Department for Transport

Motor Vehicles: Hydrogen

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve the availability of hydrogen vehicle refuelling stations.

Jesse Norman: The Government has provided capital funding to support an early network of hydrogen refuelling stations. £5m has been allocated to build or upgrade 12 stations to enable the launch of fuel cell electric vehicles by vehicle manufacturers. This has helped secure the UK as one of five global launch markets for fuel cell electric vehicles. In addition, earlier this year £23m of extra funding was announced to increase the uptake of fuel cell electric vehicles alongside the expansion of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure. The funding competition for the first phase of this programme is now closed and all proposals are currently undergoing assessment.

Electric Vehicles

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve the availability of electric vehicle recharging stations.

Jesse Norman: We want the UK to continue to have one of the best electric vehicle charging networks in the world. To help achieve that aim we have put in place a range of grant schemes to support the installation of charging infrastructure - on-street, off-street and at workplaces. Highways England also has a commitment of £15m to ensure there are chargepoints (rapid where possible) every 20 miles on 95% of the Strategic Road Network. In addition, at Autumn Budget 2017 the Chancellor announced £400 million for a new Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund (£200m new Government investment to be matched by private investors). This funding is supported by a range of policy measures including the Automated and Electric Vehicle Bill, currently in Parliament, which will help ensure that there are sufficient electric vehicle chargepoints throughout the UK, and that they are convenient and easy to access for all drivers.

Electric Vehicles

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what implications the Government's plans for a ban on the sale of new petrol-only and diesel-only vehicles from 2040 has for petrol-electric hybrid vehicles.

Jesse Norman: We are clear that meeting the 2040 commitment should be industry-led, with Government monitoring developments closely. Against a rapidly evolving international context, we will seek to maintain ambitious targets and our leadership position, intervening firmly if not enough progress is being made. By 2040 almost all new cars and vans will need to deliver a significant proportion of journeys with zero tailpipe emissions. This ambition is technology-neutral, and we welcome any innovative thinking that helps us achieve this ambition. An updated strategy detailing Government’s role in the decarbonisation of road transport will be published before the end of March 2018.

M27

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take advantage of the time taken for the implementation of plans to upgrade the M27 through a Smart Motorway scheme to assess the potential merits of an extension of that scheme to Junction 12.

Jesse Norman: The first Road Investment Strategy funded Highways England to develop a smart motorway scheme for Junctions 4-11 of the M27; they are currently designing that scheme and engaging with local and technical stakeholders. The M27 between junctions 11 (Fareham) and 12 (Portsmouth) was upgraded with climbing lanes (for heavy goods vehicles) in 2008. Any extension of the smart motorway scheme to reach Junction 12 would be considered for inclusion in the second Road Investment Strategy (RIS2). Decisions on RIS2 will draw on evidence which Highways England has collected about the performance of the Strategic Road Network and its future needs; the Department will consult on Highways England’s initial report shortly.

Offshore Industry: Helicopters

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2017 to Question 115873, on helicopter flight hours, if he will publish the Civil Aviation Authority’s annual aggregate data for each helicopter model issued with an airworthiness certificate in each year since 2014; and on what the timetable is to publish the aggregate data for 2017.

Mr John Hayes: The Civil Aviation Authority publishes details of the total hours flown by each individual aircraft, which is collected as part of the process for maintaining the certificate of airworthiness, rather than aggregated by helicopter model. Data for 2017 will be collected at the point each aircraft’s airworthiness review certificate is validated in 2018, so aggregated data by helicopter model will not be available before the end of 2018.

Helicopters

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many flight hours were recorded by the Civil Aviation Authority for helicopter models (a) S92, (b) AH175 and (c) AW189 in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2016.

Mr John Hayes: The Civil Aviation Authority collects details of the total hours flown by each individual aircraft as part of the process for maintaining the certificate of airworthiness. The table below shows the number of aircraft of each type registered at 31 December of each year, and the total recorded hours flown by those aircraft. The hours flown data has been collected in different ways over time and the total hours flown during a particular year is an averaged amount that has been determined by various methods of calculation, and can be subject to change after data for subsequent years is received. Type201420152016Registered aircraftTotal hoursRegistered aircraftTotal hoursRegistered aircraftTotal hoursSikorsky S-92422647950325245840227Airbus EC175B000010Agusta AW1894330111796112602

Helicopters

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) S92, (b) AH175 and (c) AW189 helicopter models were issued with airworthiness certificates by the Civil Aviation Authority in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2016.

Mr John Hayes: Aircraft are issued with a non-expiring Certificate of Airworthiness which is validated each year by an Airworthiness Review Certificate (ARC). The table below shows the number of ARCs validated each year for each aircraft type. Type201420152016Sikorsky S-92425262Airbus Helicopters EC175B001Agusta AW189279

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency: Databases

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make the DVLA database accessible to Road Safety Partnerships to allow them to populate registration numbers on letters they send to speeding drivers.

Jesse Norman: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency provides vehicle keeper information to UK police forces for use in road traffic enforcement. This information can already be used by Road Safety Partnerships involving the police to follow up speeding offences.

Roads: Accidents

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward proposals to amend animal welfare legislation to give greater protection to cats injured or killed in road traffic accidents.

Jesse Norman: The Department has no plans at present to bring forward proposals to amend legislation ON reporting animal deaths on the road. However, the police do advise drivers that, if possible, they should make enquiries to ascertain the owner of domestic animals such as cats, and inform them of the situation. In addition, Rule 286 of The Highway Code also advises drivers to report any accident involving an animal to the police.

Crossrail 2 Line

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the (a) timetable and (b) remit is for the independent review of funding and financing for Crossrail 2 announced in the Autumn Budget 2017; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: The Government remains committed to Crossrail 2 which is why we see an independent review to examine the funding and financing options to pay for the scheme as a crucial next step to give the scheme the best chance of success. The Department is working with Transport for London and the Mayor of London to establish the terms of reference of the review. We are also working with them to determine the precise timetable. I will update the House when further details are available.

Motorway Service Areas: Public Lavatories

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to ensure that toilet facilities accredited to the Changing Places standard are available in all motorway service stations in England.

Mr John Hayes: Whilst all Motorway Service Areas (MSAs) are privately operated businesses, they are required to fully comply with the Equality Act 2010 legislation. The application of the Act does not require operators to provide accessible changing facilities, but I have made it clear to operators my wish to see MSAs offer more than the legal minimum they are required to. I have agreed to address this issue through my forthcoming Taskforce on the design and facilities of MSAs. The Taskforce will commission independent advice on the options and potential levers to increase well-being of all visitors to MSAs in England. We will also consider the accessibility requirements of disabled and older travellers when visiting MSAs as part of the final Accessibility Action Plan due to be published in 2018.

Motorway Service Areas: Public Lavatories

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the number of motorway service stations in the North West which provide toilet facilities to the Changing Places standard.

Mr John Hayes: According to figures provided by Motorway Services Online, there are currently 14 toilet facilities provided to the Changing Places standard in England, with none in the North West. But I am clear that customers should have access to toilet facilities at motorway service areas that are appropriate to their needs. I have therefore agreed to address this issue through my forthcoming Taskforce on the design and facilities of Motorway Service Areas (MSAs). The Taskforce will commission independent advice on the options and potential levers to increase well-being of all visitors to MSAs in England. We will also consider the accessibility requirements of disabled and older travellers when visiting MSAs a part of the final Accessibility Action Plan due to be published in 2018.

Motorway Service Areas: Public Lavatories

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the number of motorway service stations in England that provide toilet facilities to the Changing Places standard.

Mr John Hayes: According to figures provided by Motorway Services Online, there are currently 14 toilet facilities provided to the Changing Places standard in England. But I am clear that customers should have access to toilet facilities at motorway service areas that are appropriate to their needs. I have therefore agreed to address this issue through my forthcoming Taskforce on the design and facilities of Motorway Service Areas (MSAs). The Taskforce will commission independent advice on the options and potential levers to increase well-being of all visitors to MSAs in England. We will also consider the accessibility requirements of disabled and older travellers when visiting MSAs as part of the final Accessibility Action Plan due to be published in 2018.

Aviation: Employment

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the contribution to growth and employment in the STEM sector made by the general aviation sector in the UK.

Mr John Hayes: In March 2015 the Government published research that the Department for Transport commissioned from York Aviation entitled “The Economic Value of General Aviation in the UK”. That research contained an estimate of the jobs linked to the general aviation sector in the UK being 38,000. York Aviation did not separate out the contribution from the Government’s STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics) education programmes. We are commissioning research on what a strategic network of general aviation airfields might look like and this research may review that calculation. We expect this research to report in 2018.

Driving: Licensing

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) men and (b) women hold a (a) full and (b) provisional UK driving licence.

Jesse Norman: The information requested is already published and can be found athttps://data.gov.uk/dataset/driving-licence-data

Mersey Gateway Bridge: Tolls

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will (a) make an assessment of the equity of the tolling scheme and (b) investigate the operational problems with the administration of tolls on the Mersey Gateway Bridge; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: The Government has no plans to make an assessment of the equity of the Mersey Gateway tolling scheme. The operation of the tolling system is the responsibility of the Merseylink consortium and Halton Borough Council, promoter of the Mersey Gateway project.

Mersey Gateway Bridge: Tolls

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to remove the disparity in tolls on the Mersey Gateway Bridge between people who live within the local authority boundaries of Liverpool City Council and Knowsley Borough Council and those who have a Halton postcode.

Jesse Norman: As the recent Westminster Hall debate made clear, tolling on the Mersey Gateway Bridge is the responsibility of Halton Borough Council. The Council has been clear from the time of early preparatory work for the bridge that it could only be constructed with the support of toll revenue, and that this would require also tolling the Silver Jubilee Bridge once renovated. The Government has made a commitment by £288m to help fund this important piece of new infrastructure over the coming years, on top of the £86m already provided to Halton to develop the scheme and pay for land and contamination. The scheme is to that for the Dartford Crossing, which also has free use (after paying a small fee every year) for those in the immediate vicinity, but not for those outside it. The other major crossing across the Mersey, the Mersey Tunnels, is tolled for everyone, including those who live in the immediate vicinity. The further extension of free tolling would incur substantial costs, much of which would fall on local councils, and would incur a very high risk of successful legal challenge.

Electric Vehicles: Bicycles

David T. C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the Cycle to Work scheme on supporting the uptake of electric bikes.

Jesse Norman: The Government’s guidance on the Cycle to Work scheme, which is available online via GOV.UK, makes clear that electrically assisted pedal cycles can be purchased under the scheme. Sales of electrically assisted pedal cycles have risen significantly in recent years and their prices have dropped, potentially making them more likely to be purchased under the scheme. The Department does not hold data on the types of bicycle purchased under the scheme, however, and has made no formal assessment of this.

Railway Stations: Parking

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to increase parking provision at railway stations; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: In competitively tendering rail franchises, the Government includes a specific requirement for operators to set out how they will manage stations to ensure customers can access the railway. This requirement includes plans for car parking, but also for cycle storage, and working with local transport bodies to better integrate bus and tram connections where these exist.

Mersey Gateway Bridge: Tolls

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings (a) Ministers or (b) officials of his Department have had with (i) HM Treasury and (ii) the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the liability of tractors to pay tolls on the Mersey Gateway Bridge; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: No such meetings have been held.

Transport: Investment

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 137 of the Industrial Strategy, when he expects the Rebalancing Toolkit to be in operation.

Mr John Hayes: The Rebalancing Toolkit guidance will be published shortly alongside wider guidance to support transport business cases. The Toolkit will be in operation from the point of publication.

Railways: South Wales

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to invest in rail safety upgrades in South Wales.

Paul Maynard: The Office of Road and Rail (ORR), as the independent railway safety regulator, is responsible for ensuring the rail industry is meeting its safety duties and that it responds appropriately to any new issues or risks which are identified. In October we announced our plans to make £47.9bn available to Network Rail across England and Wales over the course of Control Period 6. This will enable Network Rail to carry out safety work across the country including track renewals, repairs, station improvements and maintenance of level crossings.

Bus Services: Travel Information

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to introduce regulations requiring operators of local bus services to make information available on buses in the form of announcements about forthcoming stops.

Jesse Norman: I refer the Hon. Member to my answer of the 6th December to UIN 116055.

East Coast Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2017 to Question 116801, how much Virgin Trains East Coast paid in premium payments (a) from the commencement of the franchise in 2015 to date and (b) will pay in each year until 2023-2024.

Paul Maynard: The current East Coast franchise operated by Virgin Trains East Coast commenced 1st March 2015. An announcement of the expected premium over the duration of the contract was made at franchise award. All premiums due to date under the contract have been paid. Payments by franchised operators are published by ORR annually and can be found on their website. We have set out our plans to end the operational divide between track and train, and from 2020 we are establishing the East Coast Partnership, one of the first of a new generation of integrated regional rail operations. This will be subject to a competitive process, and will include appropriate premiums paid from the private partner to the Government.

East Coast Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the Parent Company Guarantee provided by Virgin Trains East Coast for the InterCity East Coast Franchise amounts to; and whether any of that amount will be retained by his Department.

Paul Maynard: The Franchisee’s Guarantor, Stagecoach Group plc, will be required to meet its financial commitments to the taxpayer in full, in particular the provision of £165m in Parent Company Support which will support payments made by the franchisee to government.

Railways: Fylde

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to increase the frequency of train services on the South Fylde railway line.

Paul Maynard: Any increase would be a commercial decision for the Train Operating Company to make.

Bus Services: Franchises

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with any bus services franchising authorities which are not a mayoral combined authority on the use of the Bus Services franchising powers.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what guidance his Department plans to give to bus service franchising authorities which are considering applying for franchising powers under the Bus Services Act 2017.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria his Department plans to use to determine whether to grant consent to franchising authorities which make an application for franchising powers under the Bus Services Act 2017.

Jesse Norman: The Department has recently published guidance on bus franchising which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bus-services-act-2017-bus-franchising-creation The Act provides automatic access to franchising powers to mayoral combined authorities. The criteria the Secretary of State will use to determine whether to grant consent to non-mayoral combined authorities will focus on whether the authority in question has clear and locally supported aspirations which will benefit passengers and a sensible plan in place, as well as the right capabilities to make franchising a success. The Secretary of State meets local authorities, including non-mayoral authorities, on a regular basis. We do not comment on the content of individual meetings.

Railways: Expenditure

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the total amount spent on UK railways was raised through passenger fares for each year since 2010.

Paul Maynard: The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publishes rail industry financial data in their annual UK Rail Industry Financial Information publication. The data are available from 2010-11 and the latest published data relate to 2015-16. See here: http://orr.gov.uk/rail/publications/reports/uk-rail-industry-financial-information For the purpose of this response, the rail industry includes Great Britain’s franchised passenger train operators and Network Rail, as these data are available for the full time series. Data for Open Access operators, freight operators, High Speed 1, Rolling Stock Companies and Northern Ireland Railways are only available for 2015-16 and have therefore not been included. The total passenger income and gross expenditure for the rail industry from 2010-11 is set out in the table below. This includes train operators’ total gross payments to government, which will vary significantly between operators (with some making a payment to government and some receiving a net government subsidy). The expenditure total also includes Network Rail’s amortisation of capital expenditure (i.e. Network Rail’s enhancements and renewals costs spread over the useful lifetime of the investment). Passenger income and gross rail industry expenditure £Millions 2015-162014-152013-142012-132011-20122010-11Passenger income (GB)9,1608,8628,4098,1277,8417,588Gross TOC and Network Rail expenditure (GB)19,06117,62217,65917,18516,46716,767GB passenger income as a % of rail industry expenditure48%50%48%47%48%45%

Department for Communities and Local Government

Housing: Construction

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much funding his Department plans to make allocate to Homes England for the (a) compulsory purchase and (b) demolition of unsuitable housing to provide larger areas of housing regeneration.

Alok Sharma: As the Chancellor stated in his Autumn Budget 2017 speech, over the next five years the Government will commit a total of at least £44 billion of capital funding, loans and guarantees to support our housing market.   This funding will be used for a variety of purposes, including for compulsory purchase, but also for identification of sites, supporting small and medium enterprise builders, guarantees to support house building, transforming our rundown estates and more.

Housing: Construction

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many housing planning applications have been called in by his Department in each year since 2010.

Alok Sharma: The table below sets out the number of planning applications for housing that were called in by the Secretary of State.These figures include planning applications for mixed use development schemes that include an element of housing, in addition to development schemes for residents only. YearNumber of applications called in20081220091420104201112012020135201482015620169

Housing: Construction

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to allow housing associations to increase the number of new homes they build.

Alok Sharma: Building more affordable homes is an absolute priority for this Government, which is why the Prime Minister announced on 4 October 2017 an extra £2 billion funding for affordable housing, on top of the £1.4 billion announced last year, increasing the Affordable Homes Programme 2016/21 budget to over £9 billion.We have confirmed a long-term rent certainty for social landlords in England - creating a stable environment that is needed to support council and housing associations to build more affordable homes.Our new Affordable Homes Programme is ramping up. Last year there were over 49,000 housing starts - indicating stronger delivery in 2017/18. The HCA and the GLA have already allocated £3.1 billion to deliver over 104,000 homes. We expect the number of starts to continue to rise.

Housing: Construction

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for what reasons publication of the house-building statistics House building; new build dwellings, England: September Quarter 2017 has been delayed.

Alok Sharma: As published in the National Statistics announcement, this release was delayed due to extra time being required for data production. This followed a switch to a new data collection system. The release is now scheduled for 19 December.The new data collection system is delivering benefits including unified and efficient handling of the Department’s data collections. This system is already working successfully with local government financial information which transferred earlier this year.The National Statistics announcement can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/house-building-new-build-dwellings-england-september-quarter-2017?cachebust=1511441945

Housing: Construction

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department plans to take in response to the Office for Statistics Regulation report on Public value of statistics on housing and planning in the UK published in November 2017.

Alok Sharma: My Department's statistics on housing and planning give a valuable indication of success in getting more homes delivered. The main measure of this, net additional dwelling, for instance shows that in the year in which the Rt Hon Member was Minister for Housing, new housing supply fell 21 per cent, compared to a 15 per cent increase last year.My Department’s statisticians will continue to work with official producers of housing statistics in the other UK countries, the Office for National Statistics and with the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) to address the recommendations in the OSR’s recent report on the public value of housing and planning statistics in the UK.These recommendations focus on further improving the coherence, accessibility and transparency of housing and planning statistics at the UK and England levels. For example, Department for Communities and Local Government statisticians are currently piloting a new Private Landlord Survey which will improve the statistics and insight available on the private rented sector, in particular how landlords operate in that sector – one of the areas which respondents to the OSR report suggested could be improved.

Sleeping Rough

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of rough sleeping in (a) Birmingham, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones: This Government is determined to do more to reduce the number of people sleeping rough. We have established a new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Implementation Taskforce, chaired by the Secretary of State, which will drive forward the implementation of a cross-Government strategy to tackle this issue.We have allocated over £1 billion up to 2020 to support these efforts including piloting a Housing First approach for the most entrenched rough sleepers in the 3 major areas of England – the West Midlands Combined Authority, Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region.   From April 2018 we are implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act, the biggest change to homelessness legislation in decades, which will require councils to provide early support to people at risk of homelessness and rough sleeping.   DCLG publishes regular statistics on rough sleeping which are published at national, London and local authority level. The latest statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics

Devolution: Greater Manchester

Chris Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on how many occasions he has (a) received representations and (b) had discussions with Greater Manchester Combined Authority on further devolution to Greater Manchester.

Jake Berry: As the Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth, I have frequent meetings and discussion with civic and business leaders, local authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships and other key organisations in Greater Manchester and areas across the Northern Powerhouse.These meetings cover a range of issues relating to boosting local economic growth, including devolution, strengthening local leadership, encouraging stronger private sector growth, and ensuring employers have the right access to skills and talent.

Housing: Construction

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to make it a requirement for future housing targets to take account of the effect of additional housing on local infrastructure planning and budgets.

Alok Sharma: It is for local planning authorities to determine their housing requirements, which should be deliverable and take account of infrastructure capacity. The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that locally-produced plans should identify the development and infrastructure required in the area.The Government is committed to ensuring the right infrastructure is in place to support communities with their housing needs. At Autumn Budget 2017 we more than doubled the Housing Infrastructure Fund to £5 billion. We also announced an additional £1.5 billion for the Home Building Fund for loans to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Custom Builders and innovators, who cannot easily access development finance.

Housing: Cooperatives

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to encourage the establishment of greater numbers of housing co-operatives; and if he will make a statement.

Alok Sharma: The Government continues to demonstrate its support for the community-led housing sector, which offers significant potential for helping to meet housing need across England. In addition to helping increase the rate of delivery of new housing, it will help deliver a range of benefits including diversifying the housebuilding sector, improving design and construction quality, developing modern methods of construction and sustaining local communities and local economies. The support and close involvement of the local community enables the community-led approach to secure planning permission and deliver housing that could not be brought forward through speculative development.I have recently announced that a new programme to deliver the annual £60 million Community Housing Fund will be launched in January and delivered by Homes England (currently the Homes and Communities Agency). We will be inviting any appropriate organisation – including co-operatives, registered providers and local authorities – to apply for capital and revenue funding. The new programme will run for at least a further 3 years. The announcement can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/community-led-housingWe have also encouraged community-led groups – including housing co-operatives – to apply for funding from the Affordable Homes Programme.

Planning Permission: Hatfield Peverel

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of (a) the detrimental impact on the countryside and (b) the additional pressures on public services in Hatfield Peverel caused by development proposals when he considers the planning applications APP/Z2610/V/17/3180725, APP/Z2610/V/17/3180729 and APP/Z1510/W/16/3162004, called in for him to determine

Alok Sharma: As my Rt Hon Friend is aware, the planning inquiry into these proposals is scheduled to open on 12 December. It will consider all relevant matters and these will be taken fully into account by the Secretary of State on receipt of the Inspector’s report.

Grenfell Tower: Fires

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of the grant for Kensington and Chelsea Council announced in Autumn Budget 2017 for people affected by the Grenfell Tower fire is allocated to (a) mental health services, (b) developing new community spaces and (c) regeneration projects.

Alok Sharma: The £28 million announced at Autumn Budget 2017 will help support the victims of the Grenfell tragedy and communities in North Kensington. £10 million of this funding will provide additional mental health support, £3 million for providing a new community space, and £15 million will be invested in the Lancaster West Estate.

Members: Correspondence

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to respond to the letter of 27 November 2017 from the hon. Member for Croydon North about cladding on the Citiscape building in Croydon.

Jake Berry: A response will be sent shortly.

Temporary Accommodation

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what support his Department provides to improve attendance at schools by children whose families are placed in temporary accommodation away from local schools.

Mr Marcus Jones: Time spent in temporary accommodation ensures no family is without a roof over their head.Local authorities should secure accommodation within their own borough so far as is reasonably practicable and take into account the impact a change in location would have on a household, including the possible disruption to jobs and children’s schooling. It is for the local authority to determine the suitability of accommodation on a case by case basis.But we know we need to do more. This is why we are implementing the most ambitious legislative reform in decades, the Homelessness Reduction Act, in April 2018, which will ensure that more people get the help they need earlier to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place.We have also replaced DWP’s Temporary Accommodation Management Fee with a Flexible Homelessness Support Grant which local authorities can use more strategically to prevent and tackle homelessness. This amounts to £402 million over the two years from 2017/18.Devolving the funding to local authorities will improve incentives to move families out of temporary accommodation and into settled accommodation more quickly, and with more certain upfront funding local authorities will be able to tackle homelessness more pro-actively, pushing the balance of the investment away from crisis intervention and towards prevention.

Housing: Disability

Mr Paul Sweeney: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to improve the provision of housing for disabled people.

Alok Sharma: Holding answer received on 11 December 2017



National policy sets out clearly the need for local planning authorities to plan for the housing needs of all members of the community, including suitable properties for disabled people. Our recent Housing White Paper sets out the ways in which the planning system will be used to deliver more suitable homes for people with disabilities, including proposals to strengthen the National Planning Policy Framework. We are also introducing a new statutory duty on the Secretary of State to produce guidance for local planning authorities on meeting the housing needs of older and disabled people.In addition, since 2011, we have delivered 27,000 supported housing units for disabled, vulnerable and older people. At Autumn Statement 2015, we announced £400 million new specialist affordable homes also for the vulnerable, elderly or those with disabilities. We have also increased funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG). Since 2012, the Government has invested over £1.6 billion into the Grant, providing around 250,000 adaptations by the end of the 2017-18 financial year. By 2020, we expect to have invested around a further £1 billion, with year-on-year increases meaning that spending on DFG will more than double to over £500 million from £220 million in 2015-16. Budget 2017 announced an additional £42 million for DFG in 2017-18.

Department for Communities and Local Government: Bell Pottinger Group

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what representations any Minister of his Department has received from Bell Pottinger on behalf of (a) Atos IT Services UK Limited, (b) Centrica PLC, (c) Ernst & Young, (d) Heads of the Valleys Development Company Limited, (e) Monarch Holdings Limited and (f) Waitrose Limited.

Mr Marcus Jones: The Department holds no record of any such representations.

Housing: Construction

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether (a) local planning authorities and (b) planning inspectors considering planning applications have a duty to consider as a material planning consideration (i) future housing deliverability throughout the Local Plan period of 15 years or more, (ii) future infrastructure delivery necessary to support new housing and (iii) reasonable efforts and best endeavours of local planning authorities to secure a five-year supply of deliverable housing sites in circumstances where a local planning authority is not able to demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable housing.

Alok Sharma: We have made clear the importance of plans for ensuring we have the right homes in the right places supported by the necessary infrastructure, giving more certainty to local communities. The starting point for decisions by local planning authorities and planning inspectors will be the approved development plan for the area taking into account relevant material considerations, including national planning policy and guidance. All housing allocations and infrastructure plans need to be deliverable.Local planning authorities should identify and update annually a supply of specific, deliverable sites and to demonstrate a five year land supply. Through the Housing White Paper we set out that local planning authorities will have the opportunity to fix their five-year housing land supply for a one-year period, to provide more certainty. Revised guidance will set more clearly how the five-year supply should be calculated.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Anaerobic Digestion

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much electricity and gas was generated by anaerobic digestion in (a) 2015 and (b) 2016; and how much CO2 or CO2e, CO2 equivalent, was emitted by anaerobic digestion in each of those years.

Richard Harrington: The table below shows how much electricity and heat (on a fuel input basis) was generated by anaerobic digestion (AD) in 2015 and 2016, as well as emissions from Anaerobic digestion in 2015. Emissions from anaerobic digestion include methane and nitrous oxide emissions from the anaerobic digestion process; carbon dioxide emissions from anaerobic digestion are not included in the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory because this is biogenic source. Emissions data for 2016 will be available in February 2018.  20152016Electricity generated from AD (GWh)1,4712,052AD used for heat generation (GWh)1,1102,087Greenhouse gas emissions from Anaerobic Digestion (million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent/MtCO2e)0.116N/A Source: Digest of UK Energy Statistics, tables 6.4 and 6.6, available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/renewable-sources-of-energy-chapter-6-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukesand final UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics: 1990-2015, available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/final-uk-greenhouse-gas-emissions-national-statistics-1990-2015

Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to page 239 of the Industrial Strategy, what progress he has made on the development of a commercially sustainable proposition for the steel sector.

Claire Perry: I met with the sector at the steel council in September to discuss the steel sector’s proposition for a sector deal, and met sector representatives again in November. We will continue to engage with industry, as well as with the unions, the devolved nations and other partners as we seek to find a long-term viable solution for the industry.

Wind Power

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many applications were made for full onshore wind station accreditation between July 2016 and October 2016.

Richard Harrington: Across Great Britain, 19 onshore wind farms applied for accreditation under the Renewables Obligation between July and October 2016. Of these, 8[1] were in England, 1 in Wales, and 10 in Scotland. [1] This figure includes 2 applications made between 1 July and 31 October 2016 but subsequently cancelled by the applicant.

Wind Power

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many certificated G59 commissioning engineers who were not embedded within (a) power supply companies and (b) district network operations were available to sign off a wind station accreditation between July 2016 and November 2016.

Richard Harrington: I refer the Hon Member to the reply I gave to UIN 106077.

Wind Power

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many applicants for wind station accreditation between July and October 2016 were on request afforded an extension of time or grace period by Ofgem to allow for successful conversion to full accreditation.

Richard Harrington: Across Great Britain, 15 onshore wind farms that applied for accreditation under the Renewables Obligation between July and October 2016 have been granted a grace period. Of these, 6 were in England, 8 in Scotland, and 1 in Wales. A further 2 applications (both in Scotland) have not yet been determined[1].  [1] Applications still being assessed by Ofgem where the later of the application date and commissioning date falls between 1 July and 31 October 2016 (their expected accreditation effective date if granted).

Research: Finance

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to page 68 of Industrial Strategy: Building a Britain fit for the future, when he expects the new Strategic Priorities Fund to be operational.

Joseph Johnson: UK Research and Innovation will work with the Government to develop a new competitive Strategic Priorities Fund. We are designing the operating model for the fund to ensure that we invest strategically whilst also giving certainty for the long term. Further details will be set out in due course.

Universities: Research

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to page 79 of the Industrial Strategy, what the timetable is for the establishment of the knowledge exchange framework.

Joseph Johnson: I wrote to the Executive Chair (designate) of Research England on 24th November commissioning The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) (and Research England from April 2018) to initiate work and consult with the sector on the development of a new Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF), which will bring together a comparable range of measures of effective collaboration and knowledge exchange. This requests that a consultation on the Framework should be issued by Research England in Spring 2018, with the implementation of the KEF to take place in Autumn 2018. On 1 December, HEFCE published details of the Technical Group which will advise HEFCE/RE on the design and delivery of the new KEF metrics system, along with a call for evidence. Details are available at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/ke/kef/metrics/.

Science: China

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to page 85 of the Industrial Strategy, when he plans to agree the joint Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy with China.

Joseph Johnson: A Memorandum of Understanding formalising the agreed Joint UK-China Science, Technology & Innovation Strategy was signed by myself and my counterpart Vice Minister Wang Zhigang of the Chinese Ministry of Science & Technology at a ceremony at the Royal Society on 6th December.

Domestic Appliances: Electrical Safety

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to take into account the Regulation 28: Report to prevent future deaths by David Lewis, Assistant Coroner for the area of North Wales (East and Central) on the Llanrwst fire inquest when it responds to the report from the Working Group on Product Recalls and Safety.

Margot James: The Department has been closely monitoring this tragic case and we will be considering whether there are any wider implications for product safety in light of the Coroner’s Report and Whirlpool’s formal response to the Coroner, which is due by 26th December.The Government’s response to the Working Group on Product Recalls and Safety will consider the recommendations made in their Report in July. Our response will consider any factors that are relevant to improving the system of product safety and recalls so that consumers can have confidence in the safety of electrical products.

Independent Industrial Strategy Council

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2017 to Question 116289, what consultations the Government has had with independent economic experts on the structure and powers of the proposed Industrial Strategy Council.

Claire Perry: Through the consultation on the Green Paper, over 2,000 organisations from all parts of the United Kingdom helped shape the industrial strategy. This included various informative representations recommending the creation of an independent body to help support its implementation. We will begin the process to establish the Council as soon as possible. Our aim is for it to start work in spring 2018.

Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that funding disbursed to private sector organisations through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund provides a return to the public purse.

Joseph Johnson: The Department will work closely with UK Research and Innovation to ensure that the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund is managed and evaluated effectively in order to support the industrial strategy and deliver maximum impact across the UK.

Green Deal Scheme

Mr Paul Sweeney: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will set out the rationale for the criteria used to accredit Green Energy Providers for the Green Deal.

Richard Harrington: The Green Deal Framework (Disclosure, Acknowledgement, Redress etc.) Regulations 2012 set out the criteria that are followed in authorising a Green Deal Provider. In particular, a Green Deal Provider must comply with the provisions of the Green Deal Code of Practice which apply to them, and in certain circumstances hold an appropriate consumer credit licence. These criteria are assessed prior to authorisation to determine whether an applicant is a fit person to act as a Green Deal Provider. They seek to ensure that Green Deal Providers operate to a high standard for the benefit of all scheme stakeholders, and that consumers entering Green Deal plans are appropriately protected.The Green Deal Oversight and Registration Body (GD ORB) undertakes these assessments and submits a recommendation to my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for a decision to be made. Guidance on the application process is available from the GD ORB website:http://gdorb.decc.gov.uk/admin/documents/Green%20Deal%20Provider%20Guidance.pdf

Fracking: Ryedale

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what evidence his Department has used to make an assessment of the potential effect of hydraulic fracturing at the KM8 site on (a) public health and (b) the environment in connection with sour gas.

Richard Harrington: Hydrogen Sulphide levels are measured every 2 weeks by passive monitoring as required by Planning Condition 25 stipulated by North Yorkshire County Council. This information is provided in Third Energy’s Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Plan, a requirement of both the Environment Agency’s permit and North Yorkshire County Council planning permission conditions. Both these permissions are required before an operator can apply to the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for hydraulic fracturing consent. The Department is carefully considering the evidence relating to the KM8 site and will respond appropriately in due course.

Unified Patent Court

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to proceedings of the Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee on the Unified Patent Court (Immunities and Privileges) Order 2017 on 29 November 2017, what plans he has to maintain UK membership of the Unified Patent Court after the UK leaves the EU.

Joseph Johnson: Although the Court is not an EU institution, it is established under an international agreement that is presently only open to EU Member States. Our future relationship with the Court will therefore be subject to negotiation with our European Partners, in order to reflect the UK’s changing status, as we leave the EU. It would be wrong to set out unilateral positions in advance of those negotiations, which have not yet begun.

Patents

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in relation UK patents before the Unified Patent Court after the UK leaves the EU.

Joseph Johnson: The Unified Patent Court will be an international court with jurisdiction over patent disputes across multiple states. The Court will draw on multiple sources of law when making its rulings and is bound to follow relevant EU Law. Consequently it will be able to send queries (through preliminary references) to the Court of Justice of the EU on the correct interpretation of EU law. The Court of Justice of the EU is not an appellate court of the UPC, which has its own Court of Appeal. Although the Court is not an EU institution, it is established under an international agreement that is presently only open to EU Member States. Our future relationship with the Court will therefore be subject to negotiation with our European Partners, in order to reflect the UK’s changing status, as we leave the EU. It would be wrong to set out unilateral positions in advance of those negotiations, which have not yet begun.

Chemicals: EU Law

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses in the chemical industry considering relocating from the UK to the EU in the event that the UK does not remain part of the REACH system for authorising chemicals after the UK leaves the EU.

Claire Perry: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is working closely with the chemical industry to understand the impacts resulting from UK’s exit from the EU. We want to minimise the regulatory and market access barriers for UK businesses, including for those in the chemicals sector. We want to ensure that UK companies have the maximum freedom to trade with and operate within European markets – and to let European businesses do the same in the UK.

Groceries Code Adjudicator

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December, 2017 to Question 116658, if he will list the legitimate grievances of direct suppliers of reporting potential breaches of the Grocery Code to the Grocery Code Adjudicator to which he refers in that answer.

Margot James: Under the Code the large retailers are obliged to deal fairly and lawfully with suppliers across a range of supply chain practices. These include: making payments on time; no variations to supply agreements without notice; compensation payments for forecasting errors; no charges for shrinkage or wastage; restrictions on listing fees, marketing costs, position payments and delisting; not to require suppliers predominantly to fund promotions; not to over-order at promotional prices and not to require suppliers to make unjustified payments for consumer complaints. The Strategic Goal will focus on encouraging suppliers to report potential breaches of the Groceries Code.

Solar Power

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much solar energy has been deployed subsidy-free by (a) capacity and (b) project numbers since the closure of the Renewables Obligation in March 2017.

Richard Harrington: We are aware of one solar farm, Clayhill Solar Farm located in Milton Keynes, which has been deployed subsidy free with an installed capacity of 10MW. We are unaware of any others that are currently operational at this time.

Solar Power

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will set out the evidence base and analysis underpinning his Department's position that solar energy no longer requires public support and can be deployed without subsidy.

Richard Harrington: Solar energy continues to receive public support through the Renewables Obligation and the Feed-in-Tariffs.However, government support has helped to reduce the cost of solar cells by 80% since 20081, and there is at least one project that has deployed without subsidy (Clayhill Solar Farm, Milton Keynes2). Bloomberg New Energy Finance (2016) Summit Keynote Presentation http://www.bbhub.io/bnef/sites/4/2016/04/BNEF-Summit-Keynote-2016.pdf The Clean Growth Strategy (Page 98), https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/651916/BEIS_The_Clean_Growth_online_12.10.17.pdf

Solar Power

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2017 to Question 116097 on solar power, what information his Department holds on the project financing of the subsidy-free solar farm referred to in that answer.

Richard Harrington: The solar farm in question is Clayhill, located in Milton Keynes. Information regarding sources of revenues for this solar farm is not held by the Department.Furthermore, we can confirm that the Clayhill solar farm is not eligible for, nor is it in receipt of financial support through, any government scheme that provides support for renewable energy.

Biofuels

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of the 36 per cent increase in the use of bioenergy envisaged in the Clean Growth Strategy the Government plans will come from woody biomass.

Claire Perry: The modelling used to derive the changes in annual final energy consumption in 2032, relative to the existing policies scenario did not differentiate between different types of biomass fuels. The figure in Table 11 of the Clean Growth Strategy can be taken to represent a mixture of biogenic fuels, including woody biomass, waste and other sources.

Horizon 2020

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage UK researchers to continue to make bids for Horizon 2020 funding.

Joseph Johnson: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

New Businesses

Mr Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to encourage the start up and development of small businesses in (a) Kettering, (b) Northamptonshire and (c) England.

Margot James: Small and medium-sized businesses across England can access support through GOV.UK and the Business Support Helpline. Over the last three years, Government has also supported and invested in the creation of 38 Growth Hubs (one in each Local Enterprise Partnership area), providing businesses across England with tailored advice and support. To date, Growth Hubs have engaged and supported over 570,000 businesses, and helped 11,391 individuals to start a business.Velocity Growth Hub serves businesses in the South East Midlands and operates a sub-Growth Hub for businesses based in Northamptonshire. Since 2013, the Northamptonshire Growth Hub has engaged with 4,982 businesses and helped 308 individuals to start a business, with Velocity (including Northamptonshire) having engaged a total of 87,655 businesses and helped 476 individuals to start a business since launch in 2014.British Business Bank programmes are currently supporting almost £4 billion of finance to over 60,000 smaller businesses across the UK which includes over 51,500 Start-Up Loans worth over £366 million. Since the launch of the British Business Bank in November 2014, its programmes have facilitated over £78m to businesses in Northamptonshire. This includes 393 Start-up Loans at a value of over £2.5m. Of this figure, over £250k is supporting loans to businesses in the constituency of Kettering.Through our Industrial Strategy, we will continue to back small and medium-sized business to grow and create jobs by providing an environment in which they can thrive.*All British Business Bank data is current as at end of Jun 2017 except for the Start-Up Loans programme which is as at end of Oct 2017

Tidal Lagoons Independent Review

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish the Government response to the Hendry Review on tidal lagoons before Christmas 2017.

Richard Harrington: The Government response to the Hendry Review will be published in due course.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Bahrain: Overseas Aid

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to Autumn Budget 2017, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of assistance to Bahrain in the next 12 months.

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, (a) what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse for programmes providing technical assistance and training to Bahrain and (b) from what Departmental funding stream did this assistance come from between October 2016 to October 2017.

Alistair Burt: In financial year 2016-17, £1.52 million was spent on UK expertise to Bahraini-led reform: This was financed from HMG's Conflict, Security and Stability Fund (CSSF). We expect a similar amount to be spent in financial year 2017-18. This funding will come from the Global Britain Fund and the Integrated Activity Fund.

Palestinians: Foreign Relations

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2017 to Question 113243 on Palestinians: foreign relations, for what reason his the term safe and secure is not used in respect of a future Palestinian state.

Alistair Burt: The answer to PQ 113243 was a formal statement of the Government's policy in standard terms. That policy self-evidently includes supporting the Palestinian Authority to lay the foundations for a safe and secure Palestinian state. In line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) the UK has always supported the right of all parties in the region to a just and lasting peace, with secure and recognised boundaries.

International Court of Justice: Public Appointments

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has received reports on reasons for a British judge not being re-appointed to the International Court of Justice; and if he will make a statement.

Rory Stewart: The Government is conducting an examination of why the British judge, Sir Christopher Greenwood, was not re-elected to the ICJ. It would be premature to speculate further until that exercise is complete.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Brexit

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the additional funding required by his Department over the next two years to prepare effectively for the UK leaving the EU.

Sir Alan Duncan: As announced at Autumn Budget 2017, Her Majesty's Treasury (HMT) is making £3 billion of additional funding available over the next two years - £1.5 billion in both 18/19 and 19/20 – so that departments and the Devolved Administrations can continue to prepare effectively for Brexit. We are currently working with HMT and the Department for Exiting the European Union to establish what we need to prepare effectively, and what additional funding should be supplied – HMT will aim to agree 2018/19 allocations in early 2018.

Iran: Overseas Trade

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Trade on the provision of guidance to UK companies on the (a) political and (b) economic risks of conducting business in Iran.

Alistair Burt: In November 2016, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department for International Trade, and HM Treasury published guidance for conducting business in Iran. This provides information on political risks, economic risks, sanctions and regulation compliance, amongst others.This can be found online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/doing-business-with-iran

Armed Conflict: Schools

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects to conclude his review on whether the UK Government should sign the Safe Schools Declaration.

Rory Stewart: The internal FCO review into our position towards the Safe Schools Declaration recently concluded. The Government is considering its implications and assessing next steps.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Sudan

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he plans to visit Khartoum; and what assessment his Department has made of whether it is safe for people who have sought asylum in the UK to return to Sudan.

Rory Stewart: The Foreign Secretary currently has no plans to visit Khartoum.All asylum and human rights claims from Sudanese nationals are carefully considered on their individual merits, and in accordance with our obligations under the Refuge Convention and European Convention on Human Rights. Those who are found not to need protection are refused, but have a right of appeal to the independent courts.

Armed Conflict: Females

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to adhere to UN Security Council Resolution 1325 with regard to its reaffirmation of the important role of women in (a) the prevention and resolution of conflicts, (b) peace negotiations, peace-building and peacekeeping and (c) humanitarian response and post-conflict reconstruction.

Mark Field: Her Majesty's Government is committed to putting women and girls at the centre of our efforts to prevent and resolve conflict and to promote peace and stability. The UK meets the UN target of doubling the number of women deployed to UN peacekeeping missions. Women now comprise around 7% of our deployed troops. The FCO works closely with the MOD to advance this agenda. For example we supported the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Gordon Messenger, in launching the Women Peace and Security (WPS) Chiefs of Defence Network at the Defence Ministerial on 15 November in Vancouver. DFID's forthcoming Strategic Vision for Gender Equality will ensure that gender equality is integrated in DFID's work across the board, including its work on post-conflict reconstruction and humanitarian response. Her Majesty's Government's annual report on WPS, to be laid in parliament on 14 December, describes the steps we have taken in more detail. The UK's fourth National Action Plan on WPS (2018- 2022) which provides the framework for the UK's ongoing efforts on WPS, will be launched in January 2018.

Bangladesh: Rohingya

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Government of Bangladesh about the effect of the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 on the rights, equality, and welfare of Rohingya child refugees in Bangladesh and the extent to which that law is enforced in refugee camps.

Mark Field: ​To date, the UK has not held discussions with the Government of Bangladesh specifically on the effect of the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 with regard to Rohingya child refugees.The UK Government is clear that the protection of Rohingya child refugees is a critical aspect of the humanitarian response. We remain concerned by the potential for exploitation of women and girls in Cox's Bazar in addition to the appalling violence suffered by the Rohingya community in Burma. The International Development Secretary raised this concern with Government of Bangladesh Ministers during her recent November 2017 visit to Bangladesh. The UK is funding child protection support to displaced Rohingya communities, including the establishment of 30 child friendly spaces and support for children to learn and adopt safe behaviours in settlements. UK aid is also funding trauma counselling services, including psychosocial and psychological support for 7,500 children.We have consistently called on the ​Government of Bangladesh to do more to prevent child marriage in Bangladesh. At the UK hosted Girl Summit in 2014, Bangladesh committed to ending the marriages of girls and boys under the age of 15, reduce the number of girls marrying between the ages of 15 and 18 by one third by 2021, and to end all child marriages by 2041.The Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 was an important step in legally defining and attempting to prevent child marriage in Bangladesh. However, we remain concerned by a number of special provisions that can lead to child marriage, including in the event of pregnancy. The High Commission in Dhaka raised this with Government of Bangladesh during the legislation's passage through Bangladesh's parliament.

Israel: Gaza

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many times in the past two years he has made representations to the Government of Israel on lifting the blockade of Gaza.

Alistair Burt: Our Embassy in Tel Aviv regularly raises the issue of restrictions on Gaza with Israeli authorities, stressing their effect on Gaza’s economic development, and urging Israel to go further in easing movement and access restrictions. The Foreign Secretary most recently raised the situation in Gaza during his visit to Israel in March. I went to Gaza in August and raised the matter with Israeli authorities. We also continue to urge Egypt to show maximum flexibility in opening the Rafah crossing.

Ethiopia: Foreign Relations

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when last he met his counterpart in the Government of Ethiopia, and what issues were discussed at that meeting

Rory Stewart: The Foreign Secretary met with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister during the AU-EU Summit in Abidjan on 29-30 November. In this meeting, they discussed bilateral and consular issues, regional security including efforts to revitalise the peace process in South Sudan, and areas of cooperation in the UN.

Burma: Arms Trade

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Pakistani counterpart on that country's decision to supply Burma with military equipment.

Mark Field: We are not aware of Pakistan supplying Burma with military equipment and we have not to date made any representations to the Pakistan authorities on this particular issue. The UK remains concerned about the potential for a further escalation in South East Asia. The UK recognises the importance of stability being maintained in the region and we would urge all parties to refrain from actions that could jeopardise this. We continue to support the retention of the EU arms embargo on Burma.

Burma: Arms Trade

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with members of the UN Security Council on support for a UN-mandated arms embargo against Burma.

Mark Field: In the preparation for the UN Security Council Presidential Statement on Burma that the UK proposed and secured on 6 November, we assessed there was insufficient support amongst UN Security Council members for a resolution mandating a global arms embargo on Burma. This remains our assessment; naturally we shall continue to keep this under review.​The UK continues to support the EU's retention of its arms embargo, which prohibits the supply of equipment or the provision of any training that might strengthen the Burmese military's combat capability. Earlier this year the UK argued successfully for the continuation of the EU Arms Embargo for Burma and will continue to do so.

Burma: Arms Trade

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with EU counterparts on support for a UN-mandated arms embargo against Burma.

Mark Field: ​The UK continues to support the retention of the EU arms embargo on Burma. The Foreign Secretary secured agreement at the EU Foreign Affairs Council in October that the EU would consider additional measures if the situation in Rakhine did not improve. The UK will discuss with EU partners whether further sanctions are required following the UN Secretary-General's 12 December report to the UN Security Council on progress since the 6 November UN Security Council Presidential Statement. We have not sought a EU position on a global arms embargo as we assess there is currently insufficient support at the UN Security Council for such a measure. This analysis is under continual review.

Mai Cho Min Htwe

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations on the case of Mai Cho Min Htwe with (a) Aung San Suu Kyi and (b) other members of the Burmese Government.

Mark Field: We are aware of the case of Mai Cho Min. The UK regularly lobbies the Burmese Government on improving the rule of law and makes clear that torture is unacceptable in any circumstances. We encourage the Burmese Government to reform its legal system to bring it into line with international standards. We will continue to take opportunities to raise specific cases as they arise and to work with Burmese civil society organisations who are promoting human rights.

Libya: Slavery

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many times and on what dates the Government has raised the issue of slavery in Libya in discussion with the Libyan Government or has otherwise made representations to that government on that subject.

Alistair Burt: The UK is determined to eliminate the scourge of forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking. The UK regularly raises with the Libyan Government the need for wider respect for human rights and accountability across the country. During his visit to Libya in August the Foreign Secretary raised with Prime Minister Serraj the importance of offering humanitarian support to migrants and the need to respect human rights. I also raised our concerns about the human rights situation in Libya, including the issue of slavery, with the Libyan Deputy Prime Minister at the Mediterranean Dialogues in Rome on 1 December and welcomed the investigation into this issue. The British Embassy to Libya has further underlined our concerns about these reports in our recent discussions with the Libyan Government, and will continue to monitor the situation closely. ​​

Iran: Terrorism

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Government of Iran about allegations that Iran is supporting the spread of Islamist causes around the world; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Iran: Terrorism

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the threat posed by Iran's support for Shia Islamists abroad; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Jagtar Singh Johal

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reasons the Punjabi authorities have given to his Department for the denial of private and unfettered access to British consular services to Jagtar Singh Johal for over a month.

Mark Field: UK officials have made numerous consular visits to Mr Johal including most recently on 7 December and continue to discuss with the authorities in India our request for a private meeting with him.

Jerusalem

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions the Government has had with the Israeli Government on President Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Alistair Burt: Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv have reiterrated our position on this matter to the Israeli authorities. The UK’s long-standing position on the status of Jerusalem is clear: it should be determined in a negotiated settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and Jerusalem should ultimately be the shared capital of the Israeli and Palestinian states. In line with relevant Security Council Resolutions, we regard East Jerusalem as part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. ​

Jerusalem

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for the stability of the region, including  the potential for destabilisation and violence, of the US Government recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Alistair Burt: As the Prime Minister said in her statement of 6 December, we disagree with the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital before a final status agreement. We believe it is unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region. We call on all parties to work together to maintain calm.

Jerusalem

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he received reports that US President Donald Trump is set to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Alistair Burt: The Prime Minister has made clear the UK's position on President Trump's announcement to recognise Jersualem as the capital of Israel. While we disagree with the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem and recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital before a final status agreement, we note the importance of President Trump's clear acknowledgement that the final status of Jerusalem, including the sovereign boundaries within the city, must be subject to negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. In line with relevant Security Council Resolutions, we regard East Jerusalem as part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Cabinet Office

Arthritis: Death

Jim Shannon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people of each gender and age group have died as a result of complications arising from arthritis in each of the last five years.

Chris Skidmore: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA response
(PDF Document, 66.52 KB)

Crime: Staffordshire

Gareth Snell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many crimes were recorded in Staffordshire in each year since 2010?

Chris Skidmore: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Electorate

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made on the effects of party political activity on (a) electoral registration and (b) voter engagement in each of the last three years.

Chris Skidmore: The last three years have been a unique period in UK politics, with General Elections in 2015 and 2017 and the EU Referendum in 2016 all raising public awareness in the electoral system. This has led, in turn, to an increase in the size of the electoral register to a record high of nearly 47 million.

Local Government: Elections

Chris Green: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2017 to Question 112666, on Local Government: Elections, whether Bolton Council expressed an interest to his Department about participating in the Voter ID pilots for the May 2018 local elections; and if he will place details of conversations and copies of correspondence his Department had with Bolton Council regarding that pilot in the library.

Chris Green: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the reasons for Bolton Council declining to participate in the voter ID pilot for the May 2018 local elections.

Chris Skidmore: We are currently considering a request, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, for related information. On the one hand, the Government needs to take account of the public interest of making its decisions as transparently as possible. But on the other hand, we must also ensure policy decisions are informed by a free and frank exchange of views about all available options, and a clear understanding of their implications. I will ask officials to write to the Hon member when a decision has been made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Electoral Register

Alex Norris: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has assessed the practicality of implementing an automatic voter registration system.

Chris Skidmore: As stated during the recent Westminster Hall Debate on Voter Registration in Nottingham North Constituency, the Government has no plans to introduce automatic registration, as it contradicts the principle which underpins Individual Electoral Registration, that individuals are responsible for registering and that this should be done at a time and place of their choosing. As such, we have not made any assessment relating to the introduction of automatic registration.

Emigration: EU Nationals

Gavin Newlands: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of non-UK born EU citizens that have left the UK since 23 of June 2016.

Chris Skidmore: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA response
(PDF Document, 106.01 KB)

Cabinet Office: Bell Pottinger Group

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what representations any Minister of his Department has received from Bell Pottinger on behalf of (a) Atos IT Services UK Limited, (b) Centrica PLC and (c) Ernst & Young.

Caroline Nokes: The Cabinet Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Anti-corruption Champion

Helen Goodman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to appoint an anti-corruption champion.

Chris Skidmore: The Cabinet Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Civil Servants: Disability

Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of workers with a disability in each Government Department declared that were treated fairly at work in each Civil Service People Survey since 2014.

Caroline Nokes: The Cabinet Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Senior Civil Servants: Recruitment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to Answer of 16 October 2017 to Question 106358 on Senior Civil Servants: Recruitment, when he plans for the information on those functions to become available.

Caroline Nokes: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6th December 2017 to PQ115729.

Department for International Development

Developing Countries: Cooperatives and Social Enterprises

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to increase her Department's work on promoting (a) co-operatives and (b) social enterprises.

Alistair Burt: Under the current Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) rules the three hurricane affected Overseas Territories, Anguilla, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands, are not eligible to receive Official Development Assistance (ODA) due to their Gross National Income (GNI) per capita being above the ODA eligibility cut off point. The United Kingdom (UK) Government has committed £142 million of non-ODA funding to the hurricane relief effort in the Overseas Territories. In addition up to £300 million of loan guarantees will be available to help the affected Overseas Territories access the funds needed to Build Back Better. ODA rules have not and will not stop Britain dedicating the money needed for the hurricane recovery and reconstruction the Overseas Territories.

Overseas Students

Chris Green: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department made of the potential benefits to the economy of using Department for International Development funds for scholarships and grants for students and young people from developing countries to study at UK universities.

Alistair Burt: There is a growing body of evidence that suggest that good quality Higher Education (HE) can make vital contributions to economic growth by developing the business leaders who create jobs and the skilled workforce needed to fill these. In addition, HE plays a key role in developing future leaders who can think critically, solve development problems and drive peace, stability and good governance. A review of spend across the Department for International Development (DFID) revealed that, during the financial year 2016/17, it was estimated that DFID supported 9,066 individuals through tertiary education scholarships in the form of: DFID programmes that provide tertiary education scholarships directly for students in developing countries to study in the UK; in home countries, or a 3rd country.Any programmes where DFID support other organisations to provide tertiary education scholarships.DFID’s provision of core funding to an organisation (which provides scholarships), but the funding provided by DFID is not specifically to support the scholarships.

Burma: Refugees

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what financial support the Government is providing for internationally displaced people in Kachin and Shan States, Burma, in financial year 2017-18.

Alistair Burt: The UK is providing approximately £4.1 million in essential humanitarian and health assistance, including for displaced people, in Kachin and Northern Shan states in financial year 2017-18.

Department for International Development: ICT

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether electronic communications from hon. Members to Ministers in her Department are passed through any third parties before they reach their recipient.

Rory Stewart: Electronic communications are passed across the internet via internet service providers and the routing of an email between an Hon Member and a Government department is dependent on which system and service an email is sent. Ministers’ Private Offices and correspondence teams routinely handle and respond to emails on behalf of their Ministers.

Department for International Development: Science

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department's science budget is allocated to (a) the UK,  (b) Africa and (c) Asia.

Rory Stewart: DFID does not allocate its research budget geographically by region. Allocation is based on priority themes set out in the 2016 Research Review. In 2016-17 DFID spent £321 million on research (which classifies as science expenditure). DFID funded research partnerships span different regions and multiple countries, with the highest footprint of research taking place in East and West Africa.

Africa: Female Genital Mutilation

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress her Department has made on eliminating female genital mutilation in Africa in the last three years.

Rory Stewart: In the last three years, as a result of DFID support, 18.4 million people have pledged to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Two additional countries (Nigeria and the Gambia) have introduced criminal legislation and the largest ever Africa-led movement on FGM has been formed.

Developing Countries: Poliomyelitis

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the amount of funding allocated to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative which will not be spent by 2019.

Alistair Burt: The UK has committed £400 million from 2013 to 2019 to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The final UK disbursement to the Initiative is scheduled for September 2019. These funds will be used as part of the final global push to eradicate polio. This information can be found on the Development Tracker- https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/

Burma: Rohingya

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether the Government of Burma has informed the UK Government that aid agencies using the word Rohingya will face restrictions on their activities.

Alistair Burt: The Government of Burma has not informed the UK Government that aid agencies using the word Rohingya will face access restrictions. The UK remains deeply concerned by all operating restrictions facing aid agencies and continues to press for unfettered access to all communities in Rakhine State. We have provided £1 million to the Red Cross Movement and £2 million to the World Food Programme to provide assistance in northern Rakhine State. The UK recognises the rights of all communities to self-identify. We continue to urge the Burmese authorities to ensure basic rights for all people of Burma.

Department for Education

Apprentices: Taxation

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to extend the two year deadline for spending the Apprenticeship Levy Fund for businesses if there have been delays in funding agreements by the Institute of Apprenticeships.

Anne Milton: Levy paying employers are able to spend their levy funds on both apprenticeship frameworks and standards. There are over 200 apprenticeship standards which have been approved for delivery in addition to the 136 frameworks which are still available for delivery, offering a wide range of apprenticeships to suit business’ needs. Apprenticeships funding expires from an employer’s account after 24 months if it has not been utilised. The government will distribute unused funding to committed employers, who can use this to fund further apprenticeship training. The Institute of Apprenticeships is an independent body and carefully examine all funding recommendations, to ensure value for money in the apprenticeships system.

Apprentices: Finance

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeship programmes are waiting for funding bands decisions by the Institute of Apprenticeships.

Anne Milton: The Institute for Apprenticeships is an independent body with responsibility for the development and approval of apprenticeship standards, and for deciding funding band recommendations for those standards. I have therefore asked the Institute to write to the hon. Member for Southend West directly and respond to the question regarding the number of apprenticeship programmes that are awaiting funding band decisions. A copy of that response will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses when it is available.

Apprentices: Finance

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average funding band is for an apprenticeship programme at (a) L1, (b) L2, (c) L3, (d)L4, and (e)L5.

Anne Milton: Information on the funding band on apprenticeship standards and frameworks by level can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-funding-bands. Apprenticeships are allocated to funding bands based on the costs of delivering training and assessment. There are a wide range of factors that influence the funding band, including the length of the apprenticeship and whether it is an apprenticeship framework or standard. The Institute for Apprenticeships has been responsible for advising the department on the allocation of funding bands since April 2017.

Apprentices: Taxation

Sir David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to publish further details on how companies can transfer 10 per cent of their levy funds to another organisation.

Anne Milton: From April 2018, the government plans to allow levy-paying employers to transfer up to 10% of the annual value of their funds to another employer through the apprenticeship service. We aim to start communicating with employers about transferring forms this month. We will publish further information shortly so employers are prepared in time for April.

Veterinary Medicine: Education

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of people taking veterinary degree courses.

Joseph Johnson: The government recognises that higher education institutions (HEIs) have autonomy over which courses to deliver. Therefore, government’s role is to help ensure that the higher education (HE) sector as a whole is responsive to and able to deliver demand for HE provisions. This is achieved through targeted funding which recognises the additional costs that some subjects, such as veterinary science, incur. We are also delivering a series of comprehensive regulatory reforms which are designed to ensure students can access diverse and innovative models of provision, and are able to make choices that best meet their needs and the skills need of employers. In relation to veterinary science, the Higher Education Statistics Agency recorded a 15% increase in first year enrolments on first degrees at UK HEIs between the academic years 2011/12 and 2015/16. Figures for 2016/17 will be published in January 2018.

Schools: Risk Management

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to Answer of 1 December 2017 to Question 114844, how many schools have claimed under the risk protection arrangement scheme; and what the (a) average and (b) total cost was to the public purse of those claims.

Mr Robert Goodwill: As at 31 October 2017, 1641 academies have claimed under the risk protection arrangement. The average cost per claim is £11,698.23 with the lowest claim being £10 and the highest being £3.6 million. The total cost currently estimated at £42,944,218.77. Please note, where a claim is open, we have used the latest estimate for the ultimate cost of the claim.

Schools: Risk Management

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to Answer of 1 December 2017 to Question 114844, what estimate he has made of the level of savings by schools of using the risk protection arrangement scheme instead of commercial cover.

Mr Robert Goodwill: As a result of the reduction in the per pupil risk protection arrangement (RPA) general annual grant deduction from £25 to £20 from September 2016, academy trusts realise direct savings of £5 per pupil and are expected to directly save a total of £22 million by August 2018. Analysis of academy account returns from academic year 2015/16 show that on average, an RPA member will spend £36.68 per pupil on all their insurance requirements, whereas a non-member will spend on average £54.07. This indicates that there is a saving of around £17.39 per pupil for schools which opt into the RPA. Applying the above figures across 2014/15 & 2015/16 we estimate that the RPA would have saved £83.1 million in relation to members. Over the first two years of operation, we have also seen commercial premiums drop from an average of £75.05 per pupil in academic year 2013/14 before the RPA launched. Applying the above figures across 2014/15 and 2015/16 we estimate that the RPA would have saved £63.6 million in relation to non-members. Please note that these figures are based on the latest account return data and the savings cannot be linked directly to the RPA.

Schools: Risk Management

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2017 to Question 114844, what the average waiting time was to reach a settlement for those risk protection arrangement scheme claims.

Mr Robert Goodwill: As at 31 October 2017, the average time between reporting a claim and its formal closure was 155.7 days. However, in all risk protection arrangement (RPA) cases, funds are immediately made available as and when required at the point of the claim being accepted and opened, and remain open to ensure the claim has been fully settled. In practice, many payments/invoices are paid direct on request to the relevant parties and contractors via the RPA claims handler as instructed via the loss adjusting process, so the academy trust is not left out of pocket.

Schools: Risk Management

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2017 to Question 114844, how many school received the full payment for which they applied.

Mr Robert Goodwill: All claims in scope of the membership rules are paid in full. As at 31 October 2017, this accounted for 885 schools across 1386 risk protection arrangment claims. These figures exclude those claims still open and not finally closed.

Students: Finance

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with Student Finance England on extending the eligibility for the adult dependency grant to include couples living together but who are not married or in a civil partnership.

Joseph Johnson: I have not discussed any changes to eligibility for Adult Dependants’ Grant with Student Finance England.

Social Mobility Commission: Finance

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding was allocated to the Social Mobility Commission from the public purse in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17, (c) 2017-18; and how much such funding is planned to be allocated in (i) 2018-19, (ii) 2019-20 and (iii) 2020-21.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department for Education is fully committed to the work of the Social Mobility Commission. We value the wide-ranging work carried out by the Commission, including its research programme, its State of the Nation annual reports, and both the Social Mobility Index and the Social Mobility Employer Index.The government has previously allocated the following funding to the Commission:£600,000 in 2015-6.£589,000 in 2016-7.£610,000 in 2017-8.Future funding allocations have not yet been agreed and will be decided by the Department for Education, in consultation with the Commission, at the appropriate time. This is in accordance with normal procedures for non-departmental public bodies.

Social Mobility Commission

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which recommendations the Government adopted from the Social Mobility Commission's State of the Nation Report (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017.

Mr Robert Goodwill: We welcome the Social Mobility Commission’s State of the Nation annual reports. They are wide-ranging, valuable pieces of work that support this government’s commitment to social mobility. The Commission’s analysis has been an important input to the department’s work on social mobility. We are investing £72 million in 12 Opportunity Areas in order to focus effort on areas of the country with the greatest challenges and fewest opportunities. All 12 of these were social mobility coldspots identified by the Commission in its Social Mobility Index published in 2016. Social mobility is the department’s priority and we are making good progress across a range of areas. We will be spending around £6 billion per year on childcare and early education support by 2019-20. The attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has narrowed since we introduced the Pupil Premium – now worth around £2.5 billion per year - in 2011. Young pupils from disadvantaged areas are now also entering universities at record rates.

Social Mobility Commission

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the timetable is for (a) new Commissioners, (b) a new Chair and (c) a new Vice-Chair to be appointed to the Social Mobility Commission.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department for Education is fully committed to the work of the Social Mobility Commission. We plan to begin the public appointments process for a new chair and commissioners in due course. This is a public appointment, and the process will be completed following the procedures set out in the Public Appointments guidance.

Schools: West Sussex

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of schools in West Sussex are rated good or outstanding; and how that proportion compares with the national average and the equivalent proportion in other local authority areas.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to you and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Teachers: Resignations

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers left the profession within three years of qualification in each region of England in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: Information on teachers leaving all state funded schools in England, within three years of qualifying, is available in Table 8 of the publication, School Workforce in England, 2016. This is available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2016. We know that there are differences on teacher retention at a sub-national level and the Department has been doing more work to understand this. Information at regional level comparable to the national figures referenced above is not available. Information is available on the number of qualified teachers leaving the profession by region. The latest information is for the years 2010 to 2015. It is published as part of the statistical release, Local analysis of Teacher Workforce: 2010 to 2015. Tables 2.2a and 2.2b show the wastage rates, by region, in both state funded primary and secondary schools. They show that teacher wastage was highest in Inner London and lowest in the North East. This publication can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-analysis-of-teacher-workforce-2010-to-2015.

Teachers: Resignations

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the reasons for teachers leaving the profession; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: We have identified the most important factors that influence the decisions of those teachers who do decide to leave the profession. We are working to tackle these. This includes, for example, our Workload Action Plan and encouraging schools to provide more flexible working arrangements. The Department has recently conducted a review of the evidence of the factors which cause teachers to leave the profession, as well as analyses of administrative data to explore geographical factors, school characteristics and teacher characteristics that predict whether a teacher remained within or left the profession. The full findings for this can be found respectively in the Department’s Teachers analysis compendium 2 (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/643974/SFR86_2017_Main_Text.pdf) and Analysis of teacher supply, retention and mobility (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/615729/SFR33_2017_Text.pdf). Analyses have found that there is no single observable factor that can explain why teachers leave the profession, and that there are a wide range of factors affecting decisions. National and international evidence shows that the decision to leave teaching is a complex one influenced by numerous professional and personal factors – ranging from working conditions (in particular workload), school situation and pay, to a desire for a new challenge and personal reasons.

Education: Standards

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 102 of the Industrial Strategy, when she plans to introduce revised performance measures for school and colleges performance.

Nick Gibb: The school and college performance tables will be revised to take account of the introduction of T levels. A public consultation on T levels was published on 30 November and the consultation included a question on the performance measures for T levels. We will consider the responses to the consultation carefully and provide further details of revisions to performance tables in due course.The school and college performance tables are reviewed on a regular basis to ensure the published measures are robust and relevant, and put useful information into the public domain in an easily accessible format.Substantial reforms were made to the 16-18 school and college performance tables in 2016 and further information will be published for the first time in the 2017 performance tables to be published in January. The data that is published provides information on the outcomes of students following academic, applied general or technical courses.

Special Educational Needs

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what powers (a) her Department and (b) local education authorities have to intervene in cases where a (i) maintained school, (ii) academy and (iii) free school have not made provision for a pupil with special educational needs.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The statutory duties on all schools, including maintained schools, academies and free schools, in relation to pupils with special educational needs and disability (SEND) are set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice 0-25 years.The Education Act 1996 (Sections 496 and 497) gives the Secretary of State for Education powers to issue directions to school governing bodies where it is determined that they have failed to carry out a statutory duty or have done so in an unreasonable way. These powers are incorporated into the funding agreements for academies and free schools.The Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is responsible for ensuring that academy trusts comply with the requirements set out in the Funding Agreement. If a trust fails to comply with these requirements, it would be regarded as a breach of its funding agreement. In such cases, the ESFA will investigate and may use its powers to intervene; and, where there are significant concerns or a trust fails to improve, may ultimately consider termination of the funding agreement.The Children and Families Act 2014 sets out local councils’ duties to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. The act also places a duty on schools, including maintained schools and academies, to co-operate with local councils in the exercise of their functions in relation to SEND.

Academies

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, under what circumstances can the (a) board and (b) executive officers of a multi-academy trust alter a decision made by the head teacher of an academy sponsored by that multi-academy trust.

Mr Robert Goodwill: A multi-academy trust board of trustees is accountable for all decisions taken in the trust. It may delegate operational matters to executive leaders and governance functions to committees and local governing bodies, or in some cases to individuals. Guidance can be found in the Governance Handbook available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/governance-handbook.

Children: Day Care

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2017 to Question 116938, on Children: Day Care, what are the existing communication channels are referred to in that Answer.

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2017 to Question 116938, on Children: Day Care, how many childcare providers have provided detailed financial information on their costs and revenues.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Department for Education has received some information from a small number of providers and we remain open to receiving detailed financial information as part of our ongoing work to keep early years funding under review. Providers are able to send in this information through our existing channels, which include the ‘Contact the Department for Education’ page at: www.gov.uk/contact-dfe.

Careers and Enterprise Company

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's report of December 2017, Careers strategy: making the most of everyone’s skills and talents, what plans she has to integrate the functions of the National Careers Service into the activities of the Careers and Enterprise Company.

Anne Milton: The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) and the National Careers Service will play important but distinct roles in delivering the government’s careers strategy.The CEC will continue to co-ordinate support for schools and colleges, taking on an expanded role across all eight Gatsby career benchmarks which set out the components of good careers guidance.The National Careers Service will continue to be the single service that provides careers information, advice and guidance for adults in England. This will be delivered via three channels: a website, a National Contact Centre and area-based contactors. We are in the process of reprocuring the area-based service and the new contracts will be in place by October 2018.

Children: Day Care

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Written Ministerial Statement of 5 December 2017, HCWS309, on Childcare update, what estimate her Department has made of the potential cost increase of that policy announcement.

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Written Minister Statement of 5 December 2017, HCWS309, on childcare: update, whether any children who currently receive the two year-old entitlement will no longer be eligible under the proposed changes in that statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Written Ministerial Statement on ‘Childcare update’, of 4 December 2017, said that “This threshold would increase the number of children benefitting – around 8,000 more children taking up this entitlement once Universal Credit is fully rolled out and in steady state”. We estimate that this will cost around £25 million per annum once Universal Credit is fully rolled out. The Written Ministerial Statement was also clear that no child who had commenced the two-year-old entitlement would lose it as a result of the introduction of the new earnings threshold.

Vocational Guidance

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the publication of the Government's Careers Strategy on 4 December 2017, how many schools and colleges does she expect to be covered by each individual Enterprise Adviser.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the section 24 of the Government's Careers Strategy, published on 4 December 2017, how she intends to define the proposal for young people to have meaningful encounters with employers.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 28 of her Department's report of December 2017, Careers strategy: making the most of everyone’s skills and talents, what objective criteria will be used by Careers and Enterprise Companies when expanding the number of cornerstone employers.

Anne Milton: The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) will continue to grow its Enterprise Adviser Network, connecting senior business volunteers with schools and colleges to unlock relationships with local businesses. The network will help schools and colleges to deliver the commitment in the careers strategy to offer every young person at least seven encounters with employers during their secondary education. A meaningful encounter is one in which the young person has an opportunity to learn about what work is like or what it takes to be successful in the workplace.So far, over 2,000 Enterprise Advisers cover over half of schools and colleges in England. The strategy includes a commitment that, by the end of 2020, all schools and colleges will have access to an Enterprise Adviser. Each Adviser would usually be matched with one school or college.The CEC has built up a network of 50 ‘cornerstone’ employers and will triple this over the next two years. The CEC will continue to identify ‘cornerstone’ employers on the basis of their commitment to work with schools and colleges to offer more young people meaningful employer encounters through activities such as mentoring, work experience, mock interviews and career talks.The government’s careers strategy, published on 4 December 2017, sets out a long term plan to build a world-class careers system that will help young people and adults choose the career that is right for them.

Vocational Guidance: Finance

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the publication of the Government's Careers Strategy on 4 December 2017, what funding will be available to elected Mayors or Combined Authorities who wish to develop local careers strategies.

Anne Milton: The careers strategy announces new funding for activities in a range of areas across the country, which may include Mayoral Combined Authority areas:£5 million for an investment fund to help disadvantaged pupils to receive the additional support they need to prepare for work, including opportunities for mentoring and guidance;£5 million for “careers hubs” in 20 areas, linking together schools, colleges, universities and other local organisations;£4 million is available for the development of new training programmes for Careers Leaders and support for at least 500 schools and colleges to train their own Careers Leaders; and£2 million will test which careers activities are appropriate and work well in primary schools.The department will work closely with Mayoral Combined Authorities that wish to develop local careers strategies to trial approaches so that local priorities directly inform the provision of careers advice.

Children: Day Care

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many fostered children received the two-year-old childcare entitlement in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Table 12 of the ‘Education provision for children under 5 years of age’ Statistical First Release shows the number of 2-year-old children funded for an early education place because they were looked after or adopted: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2017. It is not possible to separately identify those who were looked after by a foster carer.

ICT: Teachers

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of Stat What steps the Government is taking to ensure funding for the training of new computer science teachers is distributed across the country fairly and proportionately.

Nick Gibb: The Government will be investing £84 million of new funding over the next five years to support existing computing and computer science teachers. This will include a national, intensive Continuing Professional Development programme of at least 40 hours to ensure that existing computing teachers have the knowledge needed to teach the new computer science GCSE. The programme will be designed for current computing teachers who don’t have a post-A level qualification in computer science and will aim to reach up to 8,000 secondary teachers – enough for there to be at least one in every secondary school. We are also funding a National Centre for Computing Education, and a national network of support for schools to provide training and resources to primary and secondary schools across the country. Further information on this programme will be published in due course. To support the recruitment of new computing teachers - the Government is providing incentives to attract the best computer science graduates into the teaching profession, offering bursaries of £26,000 and student loan forgiveness for computer science, as one of the priority subjects.

Reading: Primary Education

Mr Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of primary school children have daily reading lessons in (a) England and (b) Northamptonshire.

Nick Gibb: We do not collect information about schools’ timetables and therefore we do not hold this information. We have placed phonics at the heart of the curriculum and introduced the phonics screening check at age six to help identify children that need additional help with their reading. In 2017, 81% of pupils nationally met the expected standard at the end of year 1, up from 58% in 2012. In Northamptonshire, the figure was also 81%, up from 55% in 2012. Thanks to our reforms and the hard work of teachers and pupils, an additional 154,000 six year olds across England are on track to become fluent readers.In addition, the 2016 Progress in International Reading Study results, published last week, put the success of our increased emphasis on phonics and continued focus on raising education standards on a global scale. England rose up the rankings from joint 10th in 2011 to joint 8th, and achieved the highest performance since the study began in 2001, driven by an increase in the number of low-performing pupils reading well.

Pre-school Education: Finance

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that early years education is sufficiently funded.

Mr Robert Goodwill: By 2019-20, we will be spending around £6 billion a year on childcare support, including £1 billion a year to deliver 30 hours of free childcare and increase our hourly funding rates to local councils for the free entitlements.The Early Years National Funding Formula is allocating our record investment fairly and transparently, so that early years providers can deliver free childcare on a sustainable and high quality basis. The government’s average hourly funding rate to local councils for three- and four-year olds compares very favourably with recently published research into the hourly cost of childcare by Frontier Economics.

Children in Care: Day Care

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations her Department has received on the potential benefits to looked-after children of extending the 30 hours of free childcare entitlement to those children.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Foster carers play a vital role in supporting some of our most vulnerable children. It is right that foster carers receive the support they need to meet the needs of the children whom they look after. We are considering whether it is possible for children in foster care to take up the additional 15 hours in a way that promotes the best interests of the child.

T-levels

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education,  with reference to the publication of the Government's Careers Strategy on 4 December 2017, how her Department plans communicate the introduction of T Levels; and how much her Department plans to spend on marketing.

Anne Milton: The government will introduce T levels in a phased approach, with a small number of providers delivering three T levels from September 2020, and the remaining T levels being launched in two waves, in September 2021 and 2022. As set out in our Careers Strategy, we will ensure that clear information about T levels is provided to parents, teachers, young people and careers professionals at the appropriate times during this rollout, to help inform students of their options in further education. We want all young people to be aware of the benefits of studying T levels. A public consultation on the implementation of T levels was launched on 30 November, and the responses to this will help to inform our marketing strategy.

Vocational Guidance: Disadvantaged

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 34 of the Government's Careers Strategy, published on 4 December 2017, what discussions her Department has had with the Director of Fair Access to Education on the continuation of targeted career outreach interventions for disadvantaged pupils.

Anne Milton: The government’s careers strategy is clear that we want higher education institutions to continue working with schools and their pupils to encourage them to go on to higher education. We have spoken to the Office for Fair Access about their role in helping to deliver the strategy. Our most recent guidance asked the Director of Fair Access to be firmer with institutions to make sure that investment through access agreements is allocated to the most effective interventions, encouraging more investment in outreach.

Higher Education: Disadvantaged

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what budget is for the National Collaborative Outreach Programme.

Joseph Johnson: The Higher Education Council for England launched the 'National Collaborative Outreach' programme in January 2017. The programme budget was set at £120 million over two years. It has established 29 consortia to target those areas of the country where progression into higher education is both low overall and lower than expected given typical GCSE attainment rates. One of the consortia, Future U, led by the University of Central Lancashire and involving three other universities and five further education colleges, targets Blackpool and will receive a little under £2.3 million in funding over the two years.

Schools: Vocational Guidance

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Government's Careers Strategy, published on 4 December 2017, whether her Department has any plans to assess the breadth and effectiveness of careers provision in social sciences and the humanities in schools.

Anne Milton: The careers strategy asks all schools to use the Gatsby Benchmarks which define excellence in careers guidance and help develop and improve careers provision. By adopting these benchmarks, schools will be encouraging student engagement with further and higher education and with employers and their workplaces. This will make sure that young people hear about the full range of opportunities available, including in social sciences and the humanities.The Careers & Enterprise Company will publish a report annually, showing what progress schools have made in meeting the Gatsby Benchmarks, supported by the interventions outlined in the careers strategy.

Schools: Vocational Guidance

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has plans to require Ofsted to comment in school inspection reports on the careers advice provided to students.

Anne Milton: The content of inspection reports is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector.The careers strategy explains that Ofsted will continue to hold schools and colleges to account for the quality of careers guidance provided to young people. Matters relating to careers provision contribute to judgements under three of the four areas evaluated as part of school inspections. First, in judging leadership and management, inspectors take account of the leadership of the curriculum and the impact of the curriculum in preparing pupils for their future. Second, in judging pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare, inspectors consider the impact of impartial careers guidance. Finally, in judging outcomes, inspectors consider information about pupils’ destinations.The government will publish new statutory guidance for schools in January 2018 which will set out how schools should use the Gatsby Benchmarks to develop and improve their careers provision. As the careers strategy sets out, Ofsted will take account of this statutory guidance when developing its approach to assessing careers provision.The department will engage with Ofsted, as it reviews the Common Inspection Framework, to consider coverage of careers provision as part of the development of any planned changes to school and college inspection arrangements which will take effect from September 2019.

Pre-school Education: Teachers

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason the number of students enrolling on Early Years Initial Teacher Training courses is less than the target set by her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill: We fund the Early Years Initial Teacher Training programme, including bursaries and employer incentives, but it is a demand-led training programme and we do not set a target for recruitment.

Primary Education: Curriculum

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to respond to the recommendations of the Ofsted report entitled Bold beginnings: The Reception curriculum in a sample of good and outstanding primary schools, published in November 2017.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Access to a high-quality education from the earliest age is vital for giving all children the very best start in life, and to lay the foundation for success at primary school and beyond. We are in the process of making improvements to the early years foundation stage profile, as set out in the government response to the primary assessment consultation, published in September: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/644871/Primary_assessment_consultation_response.pdf. This includes revising the communication and language early learning goals (ELGs) to focus on developing children’s vocabulary and strengthen numeracy, reading and writing skills. We have also recently announced a series of programmes to tackle these early skills in Reception, including through our £140 million Strategic School Improvement Fund.

Members: Correspondence

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Batley and Spen, dated 11 October 2017.

Mr Robert Goodwill: A response to the letter is being finalised and will be sent to the hon. Member for Batley and Spen in due course.

Children: Day Care

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will place in the Library copies of all correspondence between her Department and the Advertising Standards Authority on the 30-hours of childcare policy.

Mr Robert Goodwill: A copy of all correspondence between the Department of Education and the Advertising Standards Authority regarding the 30 hours’ free childcare policy will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Students: Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of access to mental health services for university students.

Joseph Johnson: Mental Health is a priority for this government. This is why the Department for Health, together with the Department for Education, have published a joint green paper on Children and Young People which sets out plans to transform specialist services and support in education settings and for families. In higher education, there is already much work underway to improve the quality of mental health services for students, alongside services provided by the NHS, including through the NHS programme 'Improving Access to Psychological Therapies'. The recently published green paper sets out plans for a new national strategic partnership with key stakeholders focused on improving the mental health of 16-25 year olds by encouraging more coordinated action, experimentation and robust evaluation.

Students: Counselling

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, who is responsible for the provision of counselling and wellbeing services to university students in England.

Joseph Johnson: As autonomous and independent organisations, it is for Higher Education Institutions to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students. Each institution will be best placed to identify the needs of their particular student body, including taking actions in line with any legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010. In addition, the department is working closely with Universities UK (UUK) on their ongoing programme of work on Mental Health in Higher Education. As part of this, UUK launched their Step Change programme on September 4, which encourages higher education leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic imperative and implement a whole institution approach. UUK has also worked in partnership with the Institute for Public Policy Research to strengthen the evidence-base on mental health in higher education. Their independent report, Not by Degrees: Improving student mental health in the UK's universities, was published on 4 September 2017: https://ippr.org/research/publications/not-by-degrees.

Trimega

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 November 2017 to Question 114975 (a) which local authorities commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use by Trimega Laboratories Limited during the period January 2010 to April 2014 and (b) how many such tests were conducted.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Department officials have written to all local councils in England asking them to review whether they commissioned forensic hair strand tests for drug and alcohol use by Trimega Laboratories Limited (Trimega) during the period January 2010 to April 2014, and whether any action is necessary to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities. We are continuing to work with local councils to establish the extent to which they used Trimega during this period.

Wakefield City Academies Trust

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the National or Regional Schools Commissioner first had discussions with the Education and Skills Funding Agency on concerns about the management by the Wakefield City Academies Trust of the schools in their multi-academy trust.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Regional School Commissioners and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) have ongoing and regular conversations about trusts. The Regional Schools Commissioners for Lancashire and West Yorkshire, and East Midlands and the Humber have been working closely with the ESFA and Wakefield City Academies Trust throughout the Trust’s history, particularly following a disappointing set of performance results in 2016.

Apprentices: Disadvantaged

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many 16 to 18 year old apprentices whose families had previously been in receipt of welfare payments there were in each of the last three years.

Anne Milton: We do not hold information on whether apprentices come from families who had previously been in receipt of welfare payments.Latest information on the number of apprenticeships starts collected from the Single Individualised Learner Record by age group is published here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/further-education-and-skills-november-2017The department publishes information on outcome based success measures for those completing apprenticeships and further education training and also on further education learners claiming benefits:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/further-education-outcome-based-success-measures-2014-to-2015https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/further-education-for-benefit-claimants-2015-to-2016

Family Hubs

Sir Henry Bellingham: What progress has been made on developing family hubs.

Mr Robert Goodwill: We welcome the development of family hubs. We know that many areas are already moving towards this model of support for children and families. However, it is up to local councils to decide how to organise and commission services in their areas. Local councils are best placed to understand local needs and how best to meet them.

Apprentices

Sir Desmond Swayne: What plans she has to encourage the take-up of apprenticeships.

Anne Milton: A new phase of our communications campaign starts in early 2018 to encourage employers to offer high quality apprenticeship opportunities. This will build on the National Apprenticeship Service’s ongoing communications activity to increase awareness and benefits of apprenticeships among employers and learners. We will also be holding National Apprenticeships Week from 5 – 9 March 2018. In November, I launched the Young Apprenticeship Ambassador Network in Birmingham, a group of past and current apprentices whose remit is to help grow and expand the apprenticeship programme by reaching out to young people and providing them information.

Faith Schools

Bob Blackman: What steps she is taking to support the opening of more faith schools.

Nick Gibb: Holding answer received on 11 December 2017



I am a strong supporter of Church and faith schools, they are high performing, popular with parents and make an excellent contribution to our education system. Through the free schools programme we have supported the creation of 71 new state-funded Church and faith schools.

Special Educational Needs

Sir Edward Davey: What steps she is taking to support local authorities to meet the cost of providing school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Mr Robert Goodwill: We are providing high needs funding of £5.84 billion to local authorities this year, rising to £5.97 billion next year, to help local councils support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.Earlier this year we gave local councils £23 million to support a strategic review of their special provision, and have allocated £215 million of capital funding to enable local councils to create more places for those with special educational needs and disabilities.

Universities: Admissions

Eddie Hughes: What steps the Government is taking to ensure that more students from disadvantaged backgrounds go to university.

Joseph Johnson: There are already record numbers of disadvantaged English 18 years olds benefitting from full-time higher education, and universities expect to spend over £860 million in 2018/19 on measures to improve the access and success of disadvantaged students, up from £404 million in 2009, through their access agreements. The Higher Education and Research Act includes a transparency duty requiring all universities to publish applications, offers, acceptance and retention rates broken down by gender, ethnicity and social economic background. This will help to hold universities to account for their records on access and retention.

Ministry of Justice

Ministry of Justice: ICT

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether electronic communications from hon. Members to Ministers for his Department are passed through any third parties before they reach their recipient.

Dr Phillip Lee: Electronic communications are passed across the internet via internet service providers and the routing of an email between an Hon Member and a Government department is dependent on which system and service an email is sent Ministers’ Private Offices and correspondence teams routinely handle and respond to emails on behalf of their Ministers.

Prisoners: Drugs

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been found (a) in possession and (b) under the influence of drugs in each of the last seven years in each region of England.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) takes seriously the ongoing challenges that substance misuse poses to our establishments and we continue to implement a range of measures to address both the availability and use of such harmful substances. This is based on a multi-agency approach working closely with health partners and law enforcement agencies. The data for part (a) of the question is only available from October 2015, when a new enhanced incident reporting standard was introduced that allowed better recording of items found, including the type of person who possessed the items found. Data is in the table shown in Annex A of this answer. The data for part (b) of the question will be reflected in the number of positive random mandatory drug tests. This is published in Table 7.2 within the supplementary tables at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-national-offender-management-service-digest-2016-to-2017. It is important to note that some prisoners may be tested more than once in this period. Prisons have at their disposal a range of security measures to reduce the supply of drugs into prisons including physical searching, the use of x-ray machines, CCTV surveillance cameras, intelligence-led searches as well as drug detection dogs. HMPPS have trained more than 300 dogs to detect PS and these dogs are available to all prisons. HMPPS are also exploring additional innovative security measures and new technology to complement existing searching methods in prisons.



Annex A 
(Word Document, 63 KB)

Prisons: Locks and Keys

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of occasions when, due to the loss or theft of keys, a prison has had to be relocked since March 2010; and what the cost to the public purse was of each such incident.

Mr Sam Gyimah: Security is our top priority. If anyone attempts to undermine our security we will do whatever is necessary to ensure prisoners are secure.Since 2010 there have been 9 relocks at a total cost of £529,973.Time FrameTotal Cost (excluding VAT)2010 - 2011£337,5532011 - 2012Cost Met by private contractor operating the prison2012 - 201302013 - 2014£28,8122014 - 2015£46,3962015 - 2016£117,2122016 - 2017Cost Met by private contractor operating the prison Notes: The figures quoted have been drawn from live administrative databases and may subsequently be amended. Due care is taken during processing and analysis, but the detail is subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system.

Prison Officers: Retirement

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government has any plans to introduce a mandatory retirement age for prison officers.

Mr Sam Gyimah: There are no plans to introduce a mandatory retirement age for prison officers. For Government to consider introducing a mandatory pension age would require a change to legislation and as the Civil Service Pension covers a number of government departments and agencies, any legislative change to the scheme would affect all members of the Civil Service Pension and not just prison officers. Members of the Civil Service Pension scheme are able to apply for retirement at any time after reaching the age of 55. However, their pension would be actuarially reduced to take into account the fact that their pension benefits would be paid for longer due to taking early retirement. Introducing a mandatory retirement age for prison officers could lead to potential age discrimination claims being brought against the service.

Prison Officers: Retirement

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Government has plans to lower the pension age for prison officers from 67 to 60.

Mr Sam Gyimah: To consider introducing a lower normal pension age for prison officers, would require a change to legislation and as the Civil Service Pension covers a number of government departments and agencies, any legislative change to the scheme would affect all members of the Civil Service Pension and not just prison officers.

Prison Sentences

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the answer of 4 December to Question 116620, how many of the 2,718 prisoners serving  Imprisonment Public Protection sentences who have passed their minimum tariff period have parole hearings scheduled for the next six months; and will he make a statement.

Mr Sam Gyimah: In my evidence to the Justice Select Committee, on 18 October, I outlined the work that Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) was undertaking to provide as many opportunities for IPP prisoners to progress to safe release as soon as possible. This includes giving IPP prisoners the support, opportunities and motivation they need to progress more quickly. We are also working towards opening three new IPP Progression Regimes that build on the success of the one at HMP Warren Hill, which is providing opportunities for IPP prisoners to reduce their risk where they have struggled to do so previously. HMPPS is targeting those who have had two or more unsuccessful parole hearings and carrying out psychology-led case reviews to identify new approaches to improve the prospects of achieving progression. The Parole Board is also committed to progressing IPP prisoners towards release by providing IPP prisoners with timely access to parole reviews. Already this year the numbers of IPP prisoners has reduced from 3,528 to 3,162. Of the 2,718 IPP prisoners - who have passed their minimum tariff period - 746 have oral hearings scheduled during the period 1 December 2017 - 31 March 2018. The Parole Board - which is listing more cases than ever - lists cases three months in advance and I expect that further oral hearings for IPP prisoners will be listed during the next six months. The Parole Board’s aim is that IPP prisoners should be released - if it is safe to do so - or have clear plans in place that will enable them to progress.

Prime Minister

Israel: USA

Dan Carden: To ask the Prime Minister, what discussions she has had with US President Donald Trump on (a) his proposal to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem and (b) US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel; and if she will make a statement.

Mrs Theresa May: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) on 6 December 2017, Official Report, column 1031.

City of London Corporation

Deidre Brock: To ask the Prime Minister, what discussions her Office has had with the City of London Corporation since July 2016.

Mrs Theresa May: Details of Ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly and made available on the gov.uk website.

Brexit

Deidre Brock: To ask the Prime Minister, if she will publish the transcripts of her discussions with the Democratic Unionist Party leader, Arlene Foster on the UK's negotiations with the EU.

Mrs Theresa May: Our discussions were constructive.

Ministry of Defence

RAF Volunteer Reserve

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the total strength of the Royal Air Force Reserve as of 1 October 2017 are (a) Phase 1 Trained, (b) Phase 2 trained and (c) new entrants or recruits.

Mark Lancaster: As at 1 October 2017 some 160 personnel of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force are Phase 1 trained. Additionally, some 2,130 are Phase 2 trained and a further 430 are undergoing basic Phase 1 training.

RAF Volunteer Reserve

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of the total strength of the Royal Air Force Reserve as of 1 October 2017 are eligible to (a) deploy on overseas exercises, (b) deploy on overseas operations and (c) be mobilised.

Mark Lancaster: As at 1 October 2017, some 1,590 Royal Auxiliary Air Force personnel have an eligibility for mobilisation and deployment on overseas exercises. Of those, some 1,510 personnel are also eligible to deploy on overseas operations.

RAF Volunteer Reserve

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, of the total strength of the Royal Air Force Reserve as of 1 April 2017, what the average number was of Man Training Days undertaken by (a) an individual reservist and (b) a squadron for the training year April 2016 to March 2017.

Mark Lancaster: Between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017 the average number of Man Training Days by an individual Reservist was 31 days per reservist and 1631 per squadron. Squadrons vary greatly in size, and therefore one squadron may conduct far more or less man training days than another, this is not unusual.

RAF Volunteer Reserve

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of people on Full time Reserve contracts in the Royal Air Force Reserve are (a) eligible to deploy on overseas exercises, (b) eligible to deploy on overseas operations, (c) eligible to be mobilised and (d) on a reduced commitment.

Mark Lancaster: In the Royal Auxiliary Air Force Full Time Reserve Service personnel are recruited for specific posts and do not necessarily have a deployment obligation. They may however, volunteer for such duties if they wish.As of 1 October 2017 approximately 81% of the 1,146 Full Time Reserve Service personnel were eligible to deploy on overseas exercises or overseas operations and all 1,146 Full Time Reserve Service personnel are eligible to be mobilised.As of 1 October 2017, 808 personnel are on a Limited Full Time Reserve Service Commitment and 319 are on Home Commitment.

RAF Volunteer Reserve

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many former regular personnel in the Royal Air Force Reserve are (a) on a reduced commitment, (b) eligible to deploy on an overseas exercise, (b) eligible to deploy on an overseas operation, and (c) eligible to be mobilised.

Mark Lancaster: All former Regular personnel that joined the Royal Auxiliary Air Force have a reduced commitment of 15 days per year in their first three years. They are liable for deployment on overseas exercises, overseas operations and mobilisation.

MOD Hebrides

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many staff at the Hebrides Range had to take annual leave at the end of the year due to their being busy throughout summer.

Harriett Baldwin: There is no requirement to keep records of why Hebrides Range staff take annual leave. In line with the company's Human Resources policy, employees can request annual leave at any time.

European Fighter Aircraft

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions the RAF has cannibalised Typhoon aircraft due to lack of available spares in order to keep up with operations and training programmes over the last (a) three, (b) six and (c) 12 months.

Harriett Baldwin: 'Cannibalisation' is the routine maintenance practice of removing and recycling spare parts that are taken from one aircraft to be used on another, to ensure the maximum number of aircraft are available to meet the Typhoon flying requirement.The information is not held in the format requested.

European Fighter Aircraft

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how may spare parts for RAF Typhoons have been used over the last (a) three, (b) six and (c) 12 months.

Harriett Baldwin: The information is not held in the format requested.

Navy

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, by means of which operations, through which ships and in which theatres the Royal Navy projects its power strategically.

Mark Lancaster: All elements of the Royal Navy project power for the Nation, through all their activity and tasking across the globe.On the matter of theatres and operations, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the then Minister for the Armed Forces (Mike Penning) on 25 April 2017 to Question number 71223.

Navy: Females

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many women (a) applied for, (b) were accepted on and (c) completed the Initial Naval Training (Officer) course at Britannia Royal Naval College for each course since the start of 2015.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The number of female officer applicants for Financial Years from 1 January 2015 to 2016-17 is given below:  1 January - 31 March 20152015-162016-17Number of applicants162600553 Notes:These figures do not include in-Service applicants to the Upper Yardsman and Senior Upper Yardsman schemes, who may have gone on to be successful at Admiralty Interview Board and completed elements of the Initial Naval Training (Officer) course at Britannia Royal Naval College. The number of women who were accepted on (via the Admiralty Interview Board) and completed the Initial Naval Training (Officer) course at Britannia Royal Naval College for each course since the start of 2015 is given below: Course commencement dateSuccessful at Admiralty Interview BoardCompleted Initial Naval Training (Officer) CourseFebruary 20151010May 20151510September 20151515January 20162015May 20161515September 20162525January 20171515May 20171510September 20172520Total155140

Army

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the planned number of personnel is for each Strike brigade.

Mark Lancaster: The exact nature of the Strike Brigades will be determined through the experimentation process currently under way. At this early stage it is planned that a Strike Brigade with its affiliated close support units will have a manpower establishment of around 4,800. Other support will be provided by Divisional assets as required.

Military Exercises

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, (a) when and (b) for what reasons, the decision was taken to reduce the number of joint warrior exercises from two to one in 2018.

Mark Lancaster: When determining the Royal Navy's exercise programme it was identified that there were several training opportunities that coincided with the Joint Warrior exercise programmed for the autumn of 2018. In addition to the multinational Joint Expeditionary Force exercise designed to enhance the UK's ability to respond rapidly anywhere in the world, the Royal Navy has now committed to two major international military exercises with significant UK involvement. These exercises will combine all the training requirement that a second Joint Warrior would have delivered. The exercises are SAIF SAREEA 3 - the biggest UK-Omani exercise to be held in the last 15 years - and TRIDENT JUNCTURE 2018 - a NATO exercise held every three years and hosted in Norway in 2018.There is therefore no requirement for the second Joint Warrior Exercise in 2018.

EU Defence Policy

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2017 to Question 115448, on EU Defence Policy, what the (a) posts and (b) ranks are of the 16 UK personnel posted to EU defence and security roles.

Mark Lancaster: The 16 UK posts in EU defence and security roles are: Post TitleRankSenior Military Advisor Crisis Management and Planning DepartmentAir Commodore (RAF)Branch Chief: Military Assessment and PlanningColonel (Army)High Readiness Task Force Deputy ChairCommander (RN)Officer, Resource Support BranchCommander (RN)Exercise, Training and Analysis OfficerCommander (RN)Policy, Plans and Concepts OfficerCommander (RN)Military Assistant to Director General EU Military StatffCommander (RN)Air Officer, Intelligence Production BranchCommander (RN)Military Assistant 2 to Chairman of the EU Military CommitteeLieutenant Colonel (RM)Officer, Crisis Response Planning and Current Operations BranchLieutenant Colonel (RM)Command Information Systems Geography Military Policy Requirements OfficerLieutenant Colonel (Army)Officer, Department of Director GeneralWing Commander (RAF)Officer, Policy and Requirements BranchWing Commander (RAF)European Defence Agency Single European Sky Air Traffic Management ResearchWing Commander (RAF)Requirements Branch - Non-Commissioned OfficerWarrant Officer (RAF)Officer, Information Technology and Security BranchSergeant (RAF)RN = Royal NavyRM = Royal MarinesRAF = Royal Air Force

Military Aircraft: Ministers

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which Government Ministers have used RAF aircraft on official business for what purposes on what dates since July 2016.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which Government Departments owe money to the Ministry of Defence for the use of RAF aircraft by Ministers.

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of (a) the total monies outstanding from other Departments and (b) the length of time payment has been outstanding for the use of his Department's RAF jets and helicopters.

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the total amount owed by the Treasury to the Ministry of Defence for the Chancellor's use of RAF aircraft and helicopters to date.

Harriett Baldwin: Information on Ministerial travel is published on a quarterly transparency return on ww.gov.uk.

Army

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress has been made on establishing the Strike Experimentation Group.

Mark Lancaster: The Strike Experimentation Group (SEG) was established in Warminster in April 2017 and is part of the headquarters of 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade. This will build and develop understanding of the Strike concept within the brigade and its units. The SEG has engaged with Allies, including in the US, France, Canada and Italy, to develop opportunities for combined experimentation and knowledge exchange. They have also developed some early tactics for operational analysis by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, and conducted a battlegroup level live experiment with the Canadian Army to investigate armoured cavalry techniques using a surrogate for the Ajax vehicles.Since the statement on refinements to the Army's structure by the then Secretary of State for Defence on 15 December 2016 [HCWS367], the Army has made minor changes to the sequencing of units to form Strike. The 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade will become the first Strike Brigade by 2020. It will comprise the Household Cavalry Regiment, the Royal Dragoon Guards, 1st Battalion Scots Guards, and 3rd Battalion The Rifles.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2017 to Question 116496, whether the Mechanised Infantry Vehicle program is in the assessment phase.

Gerald Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Mechanised Infantry Vehicles his Department plans to procure.

Harriett Baldwin: The Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) initial gate business case has now been approved, moving the project into the assessment phase.The assessment phase will focus on confirming the optimum fleet mix and delivery sequence.

Armed Forces: Housing

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many tenants of Service Family Accommodation properties allocated under a civilian licence are (a) civil servants and (b) reservists.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The number of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) allocated under a civilian licence to civil servants and reservists are shown below. Service TypeTotalCivil Servants61Reservists15Civilian Licence Total76

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 23 November 2017 to Question HL3124, on social security benefits: appeals, what assessment he has made of the reported comments by Sir Ernest Ryder, Senior President of Tribunals, at a Bar Council event on 7 November 2017 on the quality of evidence brought before the courts by his Department in cases involving employment and support allowance and personal independence payments; whether he has discussed those concerns with the Secretary of State for Justice; and if he will make a statement.

Sarah Newton: The Department is considering the comments but looks forward to working collaboratively with the Ministry of Justice to address the concerns raised - it has been agreed that we will meet with senior officials from that department in the New Year.

Personal Independence Payment: Midlothian

Danielle Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the number of personal independence payment claimants in Midlothian who are refused entitlement to those payments upon making a claim.

Sarah Newton: The latest available data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) clearances split by type of clearance (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn) is published at parliamentary constituency level and local authority level and can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html

State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad

Andrew Bowie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of introducing universal annual uprating to the state pensions of British pensioners living abroad.

Guy Opperman: The UK State Pension is a contributory based pension payable worldwide, without regard to nationality, to those who meet the eligibility criteria. But it is uprated abroad only where there is a legal requirement to do so - for example, where UK State Pension recipients are living within the European Economic Area, Switzerland and Gibraltar or in countries where there is a reciprocal agreement that provides for uprating of the UK State Pension. This is a longstanding policy which has remained consistent for around 70 years. It has been the policy of consecutive Governments of all persuasions. It is estimated that the cost of up-rating state pensions would increase each year by over £0.5 billion per year if all pensions in payment were increased to current levels in the UK.

Department for Work and Pensions: ICT

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether electronic communications from hon. Members to Ministers of his Department are passed through any third parties before they reach their recipient.

Caroline Dinenage: It is plausible that some members use a 3rd party email account (egg mail) which will pass through the internet (multiple providers), the email then traverses the secure PSN (Public Service Network) which is supplied by a third party provider (Vodafone) under a cross government framework managed by the Cabinet Office. From there it will be routed directly into the DWP e-mail service which is part of a managed service with the third party provider DXC (formerly HPE).

Jobcentres: Telephone Services

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent representations he has received on the effect on benefit claimants of outsourcing jobcentre telephony work to Capita.

Caroline Dinenage: In delivery of the JSA New Claim service the Provider has received and accepted complaints that equate to 0.003% of the total Customer interactions, which is comparable with services delivered internally.

Employment: Mental Illness

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's response to the consultation, Work, health and disability: improving lives, what plans his Department has to improve mental health training for frontline staff in each region of the UK.

Sarah Newton: We are committed to continuing to build work coach capability to deliver personalised and tailored support. All work coaches across the Jobcentre Plus network receive training on supporting people with health conditions and disabilities and we have developed an enhanced mental health training programme, which is now available in every country and region across the UK. In addition, the roll out of the Health and Work Conversation across the UK supports work coaches to continue to build engagement with claimants with disabilities and health issues, backed by comprehensive new training which builds skills of empathy and active listening. We have also recruited new disability employment advisers and community partners who are in place in every country and region of the UK.

Personal Independence Payment

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will assess the merits of implementing the Disability Benefits Consortium's recommendations on PIP assessors.

Sarah Newton: We have read and considered the Disability Benefits Consortium's recommendations with regards to Health Professionals who carry out PIP assessments. Independent reviews form an important part of the learning process and we are constantly looking to improve the experience of claiming PIP. We recognise the scale of the challenge in implementing a new benefit so committed to two, statutory independent reviews of PIP. The latest of these reviews, led by Paul Gray, was published on 30 March 2017 and we plan to respond to this later this year. The Department encourages claimants to provide as much relevant evidence as necessary to support their claim. Before claimants are invited for a face-to-face consultation, all of the available evidence is reviewed and if, at that stage, advice to the Department can be made on this evidence alone, the claimants will not be required to attend a face-to-face assessment.We continue to work extensively with the PIP assessment providers and disability representative groups to make improvements to guidance, training and audit procedures in order to ensure a quality service.

Personal Independence Payment

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to allow Personal Independence Payment claimants to have their assessments recorded.

Sarah Newton: There is an existing process for those claimants of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) who wish to record their assessments which is publicised on the websites of both assessment providers and reflects the guidance in Part 1 of the PIP Assessment Guide (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-independence-payment-assessment-guide-for-assessment-providers#history).

Children: Maintenance

Gavin Newlands: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to bring forward proposals to factor unearned income into child maintenance payment plans.

Caroline Dinenage: The Child Maintenance Scheme already allows for a paying parent’s unearned income to be taken into account within a child maintenance calculation.

Universal Credit: Students

Melanie Onn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether student loans are classed as complete income for the purposes of calculating universal credit eligibility.

Damian Hinds: When Universal Credit calculates eligibility, it takes into account the elements of student loans or grants which provide for the student’s basic maintenance. Universal Credit disregards elements paid for specific additional costs the student has, such as tuition or books. Once the total annual loan is calculated, Universal Credit applies a flat rate monthly disregard of £110 whilst the claimant remains a student.

Local Housing Allowance: Young People

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 8 of the Government’s July 2016 Keep on Caring strategy, what review his Department has undertaken into extending the exemption from the Shared Accommodation rate of Local Housing Allowance from 22 to 25; and when he plans to publish the findings of that review.

Caroline Dinenage: We have no current plans to extend the exemption for care leavers from the Shared Accommodation Rate to age 25, following the cross Government Paper “Keep on Caring” in 2016. We will however continue to keep this under review and consider evidence from stakeholders on the impact on care leavers. The most vulnerable care leavers will already be exempt from the Shared Accommodation Rate, for example those in receipt of the severe disability premium Further since 2011 the Government has provided around £900 million in Discretionary Housing Payment funding to local authorities to help support vulnerable people, including care leavers, mitigate rent shortfalls.

Universal Credit: Care Leavers

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of care leavers who are receive housing support through universal credit are in rent arrears.

Damian Hinds: The information requested is not available.

Food Banks

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the (a) two child limit element in child tax credits and(b) the equivalent element in universal credit on the use of food banks families over the next 5 years.

Damian Hinds: This Department has made no projection of trends in food bank use.

Universal Credit

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will place in the Library a copy of the version of the Universal Credit transition rollout schedule published on his Department's website on 16 October 2017 which was subsequently removed.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Oral Statement of 23 November 2017, Official Report column 1201, on Universal Credit, if he will list the Job Centre Plus in which the date for full-service Universal Credit was delayed in the revised roll-out plan compared with the previous roll-out transition plan.

Damian Hinds: In general, most implementation dates for Jobcentres changed by approximately three months. Barnsley went live with the Universal Credit Full Service in July 2017. The full rollout schedule was published in July 2017 and its available at the following link:http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2017-07-10/3962/ We published an updated schedule following the announcements in the Oral Statement on 23 November, here:http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2017-11-15/113178/ The transition schedule published to Gov.uk on 16 October is attached.



UC Rollout Schedule
(PDF Document, 282.4 KB)

Young People: Disability

Mr Paul Sweeney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he has taken to ensure that the right support is offered to young disabled people who are seeking independence through work or volunteering.

Sarah Newton: This Government is committed to enabling young disabled people to fulfil their potential and achieve their aspirations. We provide a wide suite of programmes and initiatives to support them, including: Jobcentre support for schools, which targets young people that schools identify as being at risk of becoming NEET (not in employment, education or training), or who may otherwise be disadvantaged in the labour market – for example those with a health or disability issue.The Young Person’s Supported Work Experience programme, which will offer a personally tailored supported work experience opportunity to enable young people (aged 18 – 24) to benefit fully from time in the work place. This proof of concept is being tested in five districts.The Local Supported Employment (LSE) proof of concept ‘place and train’ model, which aims to move disabled people into real jobs, at the going rate of pay, with support for both the individual and employer.Supported Internships, which, all qualified post-16 education providers in England have been able to deliver Since September 2013. These are personalised study programmes, based primarily at a prospective employer, for young people with complex learning difficulties and/or disabilities.Access to Work, which already offers support to disabled people undertaking a number of opportunities that help them to prepare for paid employment, including work experience, apprenticeships, supported internships and traineeships.DWP also recognises the value of voluntary work in developing skills which can be transferred into the world of paid work, as well as benefitting local communities and wider society.Disabled young people who are claiming Universal Credit can have their weekly work search hours reduced by up to 50 per cent to accommodate voluntary work.Those who are receiving Employment and Support Allowance can try out work when this has been agreed beforehand with their work coach, without their benefit being affected. Restrictions on this Permitted Work were relaxed in April 2017 so that any ESA claimant can do this work within certain limits.

Social Security Benefits: Lone Parents

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he will consider immediately exempting from the benefit cap lone parents with children aged under two, in accordance with the verdict delivered by the High Court on 22 June 2017 in the case of DA and others v. the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to provide an update on his Department's appeal against the High Court ruling of June 2017 in the case of DA and others v. the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Caroline Dinenage: DWP took the case of DA and others v. the Secretary of State to the Court of Appeal; it was important that we did so and we now await the judgment. Nothing changes and the benefit cap remains as it is while we await the outcome of the appeal. Many parents with young children are employed, which we encourage as it’s the best way to raise living standards. The benefit cap incentivises work, even if it’s part-time, as anyone eligible for working tax credits or the equivalent under Universal Credit, is exempt. Even with the cap, lone parents can still receive benefits up to the equivalent salary of £25,000, or £29,000 in London and we have made Discretionary Housing Payments available to people who need extra help. There is help available for childcare costs for children of any age. Claimants can recover up to 70% of their eligible childcare costs through working tax credits, or 85% of those costs through Universal Credit (in each case, up to a cap). Further assistance may be available through the Flexible Support Fund. Jobcentre Plus staff can help parents to find work that fits around childcare responsibilities and provide intensive support to lone parents.

Personal Independence Payment

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the findings of the Disability Benefits Consortium Survey, published in September 2017, that over 71 per cent of respondents found the Personal Independence Payments form hard or very hard to complete.

Sarah Newton: The PIP2 questionnaire, “How your disability affects you”, was co-produced with the assistance of disabled people, carers and organisations supporting them. The questionnaire is designed to allow Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants to tell us, in their own words, how their health condition or disability impacts them on a day-to-day basis. The questionnaire has a mixture of tick boxes and free text boxes allowing claimants to add as much or as little detail as they wish. We recognise that for some people the length of the questionnaire may seem intimidating. That is why we provide guidance notes to help them complete it and, following earlier concerns about time limits, introduced rules and procedures which allow claimants additional time to complete the form where that is reasonably required.Recent independent research carried out by Ipsos MORI indicates that 85 per cent of claimants were able to complete all sections of the questionnaire and only four per cent were unable to do so. The research also shows that 63 per cent of claimants found completing the questionnaire as easy or easier than expected and 69 per cent agreed that it allowed them to explain how their condition affected them.We constantly look to review and improve the experience of people claiming PIP. We are currently considering the recommendations made in the second independent review of PIP which included recommendations to improve our communications for claimants. We plan to respond to the review’s findings later this year.

Work Capability Assessment

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons work capability assessments are given greater weight than a GP's fit note when a Job Centre considers whether someone is able to search for work or undertake work-related activity.

Sarah Newton: Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC) require GP Fit Notes to confirm that someone has a health condition or disability as part of their claim. The functional Work Capability Assessment (WCA) report advises a DWP decision maker whether the individual meets the limited capability for work (LCW) or limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) conditions set down in legislation. The key difference is that the fit note informs us that the claimant has a health condition or disability and the WCA outcome informs us of the impact that a health condition or disability has on the claimant’s capability for work. DWP decision makers use the WCA report, along with any other available evidence including the GP Fit Note, when determining entitlement to ESA and in determining if the claimant has LCW or has LCWRA, or does not have LCW – in other words, is fit for work. ESA and UC claimants who have LCW and LCWRA are, subject to certain exceptions, required to attend work-focused interviews and participate in work-related activity, the purpose of which is to improve their capability or readiness for work, with a view to helping their prospects of moving into work at a point when they are able. They cannot be required to search for or apply for work. Once a claimant has been notified of a LCW or LCWRA determination they are no longer required to provide GP Fit Notes unless they are providing evidence to support a change in their heath condition or disability.

Universal Credit

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times Jobcentre Plus staff have applied the discretion defined in regulation 99 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013.

Damian Hinds: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons Jobcentre Plus implementation of regulation 99 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 defaults to a 14-day unfit period rather than the number of days specified in a fit note.

Damian Hinds: Regulation 99 requires work search and work availability requirements to be suspended for up to 14 days to account for a period of sickness. Outside of these set periods, work coaches have the discretion to tailor work search and availability requirements taking into consideration the details on the fit note. Until the claimant has their Work capability Assessment, whilst they are in receipt of a fit note, we will not ask them to take up work. Regulation 99 applies for the first 2 spells of sickness in a rolling 12 month period. On the third and subsequent spells of sickness the work coach will apply discretion from the outset, taking into consideration the details on the fit note.

Local Housing Allowance

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will review the Local Housing Allowance and the effect it has on tenants living in the private rented sector.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government currently has no plans to review the Local Housing Allowance. The freeze to Local Housing Allowance rates was introduced from April 2016 and will apply until March 2020. As the Government recognises that the impact of this measure varies across the country, especially in areas of high rental growth a proportion of the savings from the Local Housing Allowance freeze are recycled to create Targeted Affordability Funding. This funding is used to increase LHA rates by 3 per cent in areas where local rents have diverged the most. Following the Budget Announcement on 22 November 2017, additional Targeted Affordability Funding will be made available. We will be increasing the funding for 2018/19 by £40 million and £85 million in 2019/20 and this will be based upon 50 per cent of the savings from the Local Housing Allowance freeze (instead of 30 per cent) which will enable more rates to be increased by 3 per cent. Further since 2011, the Government has provided around £900 million in Discretionary Housing Payments to local authorities to protect the most vulnerable claimants and support households affected by different welfare reforms including the freeze to Local Housing Allowance rates.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Flood Control

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the cost of completed Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) projects across England in each year since 2010.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Government estimates that there has been the following amount of capital spending on Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management projects in each year since 2010: Year£million2010/113992011/122982012/132962013/143582014/155222015/164502016/17502 These figures include schemes costing below £100k, which were previously not geo-located, and include Capital costs, as well as capital investments spent on EA activities including the FCRM attributable to flood protection.

Environmental Protection (Microbeads) (England) Regulations 2017

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Environmental Protection (Microbeads) (England) Regulations 2017 will be subject to the one-in, three-out rule.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The ‘one, three out rule’ related to an administrative rule for the last Parliament that supported the Government’s business impact target (BIT) for that Parliament. The Government is currently considering what the BIT should be for this Parliamentary session. This includes which measures are within its scope and which are not.

Wildlife: Crime

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to introduce legislative proposals or guidance to increase the severity of sentences for people convicted of wildlife crimes.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: There are currently no plans to increase the penalties for offences against wildlife. Within the maximum limits it is up to the court to decide the appropriate sentence in any case, having taken into account the facts of the case. Sentencing guidelines are considered by the independent Sentencing Council.

Chemicals: EU Law

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it is the Government's policy to remain part of the REACH system for authorising chemicals after the UK leaves the EU.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether UK registrations under the EU Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction of Chemicals regulation will continue to be recognised after the UK leaves the EU.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The European Union (Withdrawal Bill) will convert existing EU chemicals law, including REACH, into domestic law wherever practical, giving consumers and businesses as much certainty as possible. The UK is strongly committed to the effective and safe management of chemicals. That will not change when we leave the EU. The Government published its position paper on continuity in the availability of goods for the EU and the UK in August. This paper set out the principles the UK is proposing for ensuring the availability of goods after Exit. This includes seeking to avoid unnecessary duplication of compliance activity for businesses and proposing that the UK and EU markets continue to recognise the validity of registrations issued prior to exit. While it would not be appropriate to pre-judge the outcome of the negotiations we will discuss with the EU and Member States how best to continue cooperation in chemicals regulation in the best interests of both the UK and the EU.

Origin Marking

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to decide whether protected geographical indicators will continue after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: The Government is planning to use the EU (Withdrawal) Bill to transfer into domestic law the EU schemes that currently protect our geographical indications (GIs). This will ensure that UK GIs remain protected in the UK after we leave the EU. Defra officials are working closely with officials from other government departments, the devolved administrations, and the Crown Dependencies on this.

Water Supply

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with Ofwat on ensuring water and sewerage companies improve their response to leakages.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: I have regular discussions with Ofwat across a range of water policy issues, including leakage. The Government's Strategic Policy Statement (SPS) to Ofwat, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/661803/sps-ofwat-2017.pdf sets out that we expect companies to cut leakage. The SPS also expects Ofwat to promote ambitious action to reduce leakage and per capita consumption, where this represents best value for money over the long term, including exploring setting targets in future. Ofwat has already suggested in its draft methodology that it expects companies to justify their proposals against options, including a 15% reduction by 2025, or upper quartile performance on leakage per property per day. The draft methodology can be found at:https://064f1d25f5a6fb0868ac-0df48efcb31bcf2ed0366d316cab9ab8.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Delivering-Water-2020-Consulting-on-our-PR19-draft-methodology-2.pdf.

Chemicals: Industry

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has for regulation of the chemical industry in the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: We are working to ensure a smooth transition for the chemical industry as we leave the EU. The European Union (Withdrawal Bill) will convert existing EU chemicals law, including REACH, into domestic law wherever practical, giving consumers and businesses as much certainty as possible. The UK is strongly committed to the effective and safe management of chemicals. That will not change when we leave the EU. Negotiations are still ongoing regarding future trade arrangements, and it would not be appropriate to pre-judge their outcome.

Chemicals: EU Action

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the cost of REACH registration fees paid by UK chemicals industry companies in each of the last three years.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: We are unable to provide information on the costs of registrations as the fee structure for registration depends on a number of different factors. For example, the fee structure for registration is determined by both the size of the registrant company and the tonnage band of registration. We do not have access to the data to analyse the registrations further to be able to assign costs.

Forests: Protection

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to monitor the protection of ancient woodland in England.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: We monitor the protection of ancient woodlands through the ‘Ancient Woodland Inventory’. We are discussing how this could be updated with sector stakeholders. The Forestry Commission maintains the National Forest Inventory which monitors canopy cover change in woodlands, including ancient woodlands.

Industry: Natural Resources

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the pledge in the Industrial Strategy to protect and enhance all aspects of Natural Capital will also apply to Natural Capital in other countries that will be potentially affected by UK decisions.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: We will set out the Government’s proposals to develop our lead in protecting and improving the global environment, drawing on the principle of Natural Capital, in our forthcoming 25 Year Environment Plan.

Home Office

HM Passport Office: Edinburgh

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has for the Passport Office in Edinburgh; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: Due to an over-capacity for passport interviews, Her Majesty’s Passport Office will be closing some offices that only offer this element of the passport service. Less than three per cent of UK passport applicants will be interviewed as part of the application process each year. These office closures will ensure that passport fee payers are not subsidising excess offices.

Police: Finance

Leo Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to review the police funding formula.

Mr Nick Hurd: We have yet to make any decisions about when to refresh the police funding formula. A new formula will not be introduced without a full public consultation.

Hate Crime: Disability and Sexuality

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to combat hate crime motivated by a victim’s sexuality or disability.

Victoria Atkins: This Government abhors all forms of hate crime, including hate crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived sexuality or disability. That is why we are taking a cross-Government approach to tackling the issues through the Hate Crime Action Plan published in July 2016.The Government will continue to deliver against the commitments under the action plan which includes recently announced funding for seven new community-led projects, three of which focus specifically on tackling disability hate crime and one which focuses specifically on LGBT hate crime. The Home Secretary has also recently announced funding for the creation of a national online hate crime hub, improving the response to all forms of hate crime.

Hate Crime: Disability and Homosexuality

Nick Thomas-Symonds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents have been recorded for hate crime against (a) gay and (b) disabled people in each of the last five years for which data is available.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office collects information on the number of hate crimes recorded by the police, by monitored strand - including sexual orientation and disability. The latest statistics are published in the ‘Hate crime, England and Wales, 2016 to 2017’ statistical bulletin, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hate-crime-england-and-wales-2016-to-2017 This Government is committed to tackling hate crime. The UK has a strong legislative framework to tackle hate crime. We are working across Government with police, (including National Community Tensions Team), the Crown Prosecution Service and community partners to send out a clear message that hate crime will not be tolerated and we will vigorously pursue and prosecute those who commit these crimes.

Crime: Rifles

Sir Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many criminal incidents were recorded involving rapid firing and 0.50 calibre rifles in (a) 2015-16 and (b) 2016-17.

Mr Nick Hurd: Information on the number of offences involving a firearm by type of weapon is published on a quarterly basis in the Office for National Statistics ‘Crime in England and Wales’ bulletin (Table 8), available here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesbulletintables

Bluelight Global Solutions

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much has been paid by (a) the Metropolitan Police and (b) other constabularies for consultancy work by Bluelight Global Solutions Ltd.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consultancy work has been commissioned by (a) the Metropolitan Police and (b) other constabularies from the former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner, Robert Frederick Quick.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold this information. It is for Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables to determine whether and how to procure consultancy services.The Government requires all public bodies to publish information on their spending, to provide transparency around the use of public money. For the Metropolitan Police Service, any spending over £250 is published annually on their website. www.met.police.uk/accessing-information/published-items/

Travel Restrictions: Burma

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the Government policy is on introducing visa bans on military personnel from Burma.

Brandon Lewis: Burma is currently on the visa national list and nationals of Burma therefore need to apply for a visa in advance of travel to the UK. All applications for visas are considered on an individual basis. Individuals subject to a UN or EU travel ban will be automatically refused a UK visa or leave to enter the UK should they be encountered at the border. The UK keeps its visa system under regular review. Decisions on changes are always taken in the round, and reflect key facets of the bilateral relationship with the country concerned. The Government is monitoring the situation in Burma. There are currently no plans to change the visa policy for individuals from Burma.

Home Office: Social Media

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of times the website web.whatsapp.com was accessed from computers based in her Department during the period Feb 2017 to July 2017.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office does not hold information on website hits for more than 6 months and therefore does not hold information for the period requested. The Home Office has identified however that in respect to the period June 17 – July 17 there were 22 attempts to access the URL web.whatsapp.com

Firearms: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people born on 3 May 2000 or earlier are in possession of a firearms licence registered in the (a) West Midlands and (b) Coventry.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office publishes information on Firearm certificate holders by age and police force within table E2 of the ‘Firearm and Shotgun Certificates in England and Wales Statistics - Financial Year 2016/17’ publication. This is available from the Home Office webpage on GOV.UK at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/624004/firearm-shotgun-certificates-england-wales-march-2017-tables.ods

Refugees: English Language

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking (a) nationally and (b) within communities to support refugees to learn English.

Brandon Lewis: All refugees have access to English language training as part of their access to the labour market. We support English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses as part of our wider effort to improve adult literacy in England.We provide full funding for ESOL courses for unemployed adults, including refugees, on work-related benefits, such as Job Seekers Allowance or Employment Support Allowance. All other learners are supported by the government with 50% of the course costs.Additionally, the Home Office provides funding for English language as part of its commitment to resettling vulnerable people through the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme to the UK and helping them integrate into their local communities. This funding includes a tariff for each person resettled, a proportion of which can be allocated to ESOL provision.

Crimes of Violence: Acids

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress the Government is making on its review of sentencing powers for acid attacks.

Victoria Atkins: Good progress is being made in delivering the Government’s action plan in tackling the use of acid and other corrosives substances in violent attacks. The Sentencing Council has issued an important clarifying note which makes it clear that the use of a corrosive substance is a factor that shows high culpability on the part of the offender and would indicate a greater level of offence seriousness which should be reflected in sentencing. The Sentencing Council are currently developing a new guideline on possession of dangerous weapons and threats to use them which is expected to be ready in early 2018. On 14 October we published a consultation paper on offensive and dangerous weapons. This included the proposal to create a new minimum custodial sentence for those convicted of a second or subsequent offence of possessing a corrosive substance in public. The consultation closed on 9 December.

Crimes of Violence: Mopeds

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has had discussions with representatives of delivery firms whose drivers use mopeds on the risk of assault to their drivers; and if she will make a statement.

Victoria Atkins: In July 2017, the Home Secretary announced an action plan to tackle the use of acid and other corrosives substances in violent attacks. The action plan is based on four key strands: ensuring effective support for victims and survivors; effective policing; ensuring that relevant legislation is understood and consistently applied; and working with retailers to restrict access to acids and other harmful corrosive substances. We are also consulting on new legislative proposals on new offences in respect of selling the most harmful corrosive substances to under 18s and possession of a corrosive substance in a public place. On moped related crime, the Government is working with motorcycle and insurance industry leaders, the police, the Local Government Association, charities and representatives from the motorcycle riding community to identify a set of actions so that more can be done to prevent these crimes. This work sits alongside the review we have announced into the law, guidance and practice in relation to police pursuits and response driving.Officials have had discussions with Uber and UberEats about their concerns about assaults being committed against their drivers and couriers. This in particular, covered the work underway to prevent attacks with acids and other corrosive substances and the work to tackle moped enabled crime.

Crimes of Violence: Mopeds

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received about city neighbourhoods where moped delivery drivers are unwilling to make deliveries because of the danger of becoming a victim of crime; and if she will make a statement.

Victoria Atkins: In July 2017, the Home Secretary announced an action plan to tackle the use of acid and other corrosives substances in violent attacks. The action plan is based on four key strands: ensuring effective support for victims and survivors; effective policing; ensuring that relevant legislation is understood and consistently applied; and working with retailers to restrict access to acids and other harmful corrosive substances. We are also consulting on new legislative proposals on new offences in respect of selling the most harmful corrosive substances to under 18s and possession of a corrosive substance in a public place. On moped related crime, the Government is working with motorcycle and insurance industry leaders, the police, the Local Government Association, charities and representatives from the motorcycle riding community to identify a set of actions so that more can be done to prevent these crimes. This work sits alongside the review we have announced into the law, guidance and practice in relation to police pursuits and response driving.Officials have met representatives from Uber and UberEats to discuss this issue. We have ensured they are in contact with the Metropolitan Police Service so that they are aware of these concerns and to discuss what practical advice can be provided to their couriers and drivers.

Terrorism: Iran

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the role of Iran in supporting Shia Islamist groups in the UK through UK-registered charities; and if she will make a statement.

Victoria Atkins: In July 2017 the Government concluded its internal review into the funding for Islamist extremist activity in the UK through a Written Ministerial Statement. The review has improved the Government’s understanding of the nature, scale and sources of funding for Islamist extremism in the UK. The review’s single most important finding was that the most significant source of funding for Islamist extremism in the UK is small, private donations from UK-based individuals. There are however a small number of UK-based organisations with which there are extremism concerns, for which overseas funding is a significant source of income. In response to the review, the Charity Commission plan to introduce a requirement on charities to declare overseas sources of funding to increase transparency in this area. The review’s report is classified but the Written Ministerial Statement is a comprehensive and representative reflection of the review’s findings. The Government has no plans to comment further on the review’s findings and it will not provide a running commentary on the groups, individuals or sources it considers to be of extremism concern.

Kweku Adoboli

Mr Paul Sweeney: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on the deportation of Kweku Adoboli; and if she will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office does not comment on individual cases.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what immigration rules will apply to EU nationals who are (a) sportspeople, (b) coaches and (c) supporters after the UK leaves the EU.

Brandon Lewis: The Prime Minister has proposed that there should be an Implementation Period immediately after the UK leaves the EU, while we and the EU put in place the necessary preparations for the future arrangements, and to ensure that people and businesses only have to plan for one set of changes. During this time, EU citizens will continue to be able to come and live and work in the UK. But there will be a registration system - an essential preparation for the new regime.There are a wide range of options as to how EU migration might work after that Period. We are considering these options very carefully and we will take decisions based on evidence. As part of this, on 27 July, the Government commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to gather evidence on patterns of EU migration and the role of migration in the wider economy, ahead of our exit from the EU. We have asked the MAC to report by September 2018 and flagged that interim reports throughout the period would be helpful to our input into our developing policies.The Government will be setting out initial proposals for our future immigration arrangements shortly.

Compulsorily Detained Mental Patients: Children

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people under the age of 18 were taken into police custody as a place of safety under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act in 2016-17.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of persons detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983, including information on where the person is detained, and whether they are under the age of 18 years old. These data are published as part of the ‘Police powers and procedures, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-powers-and-procedures-england-and-wales-year-ending-31-march-2017

Police and Crime Commissioners: Fire and Rescue Services

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Police and Crime Commissioners are developing proposals to take on governance of fire and rescue services.

Mr Nick Hurd: On 01 October 2017, Roger Hirst (Essex) formally became the first Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner in the country following the approval of his proposal submitted in June, which the Home Secretary judged to be in the interests of economy, efficiency and effectiveness and to have no adverse effect on public safety.The Home Office has received six further proposals from Police and Crime Commissioners seeking to take on governance of fire and rescue. These are: Northamptonshire , Hertfordshire, Staffordshire, Cambridgeshire, West Mercia and North Yorkshire.

Marriage Certificates

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answers of 4 December 2017 to Question 115274 and 2 December 2016 to Question 55490, what progress she has made on the implementation of her policy to include mothers' names on marriage certificates since 2 December 2016.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office continues to work with all interested parties to develop the options that will allow mothers’ names to be recorded on marriage certificates as soon as practicable. As soon as there is an opportunity to legislate a timetable for implementation will be made available.

Migrant Workers: Fees and Charges

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding has been raised from the immigration skills charge since its introduction.

Brandon Lewis: Figures for 2017-18 will be available once the Home Office’s Annual Report and Accounts are audited by the National Audit Office, and laid before Parliament.

Visas: Sponsorship

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the suitability of the current visa sponsorship process for non-EU workers in small companies.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office reviews the visa sponsorship process regularly to ensure that it is suitable for all types of sponsor.

Visas

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to have a public consultation on the functioning of the visa system for those coming to the UK to work before the publication of the Immigration Bill.

Brandon Lewis: The Government has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to gather evidence on patterns of EU migration and the role of migration in the wider economy, which is underway. The MAC is due to report on this by September 2018. We are considering the options for our future immigration system, post EU Exit, very carefully and will outline further details shortly. Any decisions on that future system will be based on evidence and will be discussed with a wide range of stakeholders before they are made.

Homicide

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of all murder investigations carried out by the police in the most recent 12-month period for which data is available.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not collect this information. Decisions about how to deploy investigative resources are an operational matter for individual chief officers.

Police: Biometrics and Data Protection

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance has been issued to police forces on use facial recognition software and data protection.

Mr Nick Hurd: All forces must show regard to the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice in their use of overt surveillance camera systems.

Scotland Office

Food Banks: Scotland

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he plans to visit a food bank in December 2017.

David Mundell: I currently have no plans to visit a food bank in my capacity as Secretary of State for Scotland in December 2017.

HM Treasury

Trident

Iain Stewart: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the effect of transferring the costs of upgrading or replacing the UK's nuclear deterrent from the Ministry of Defence to another Government accounting department; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: The like for like replacement of the nuclear submarine fleet is at the heart of the most recent SDSR and the funding settlement that accompanied it at SR15. The Government has no plans to transfer the costs of upgrading or replacing the UK's nuclear deterrent from the Ministry of Defence to another Government accounting department at this time.

Treasury: Public Expenditure

Johnny Mercer: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether further cost savings are being sought from his Department as part of the National Security Capability Review process.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government has no plans to cut the Defence budget. Spending Review 2015 remains the basis of the government’s spending plans. We have the biggest defence budget in Europe and the fifth largest in the world. We are one of very few countries to not only meet, but exceed NATO’s 2 per spending target. Over the next three years, the Defence Budget is increasing by £1bn a year. Ministers will consider the conclusions of the National Security Capability Review in due course.

Small Businesses

Michelle Donelan: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will exempt small businesses from paying the Legal Entity Identifier.

Stephen Barclay: The European Union’s updated Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), which will apply from 3 January 2018, introduces strengthened transaction reporting requirements on financial services firms. Under this new transaction reporting regime, financial services firms with transaction reporting obligations must identify their clients which are legal persons by using a Legal Entity Identifier. The use of a unique identifier improves the effectiveness of surveillance for possible instances of market abuse. National authorities cannot exempt small businesses from these EU requirements.

Employee Ownership: Charitable Donations

Dr David Drew: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the introduction of a tax exemption on residential cash balances for Share Incentive Plans donated to charities when an employee exits a scheme.

Mel Stride: Share Incentive Plans provide companies with flexibility to meet their business needs regarding employee ownership. The Government continues to keep employee share schemes policy under review.

Pensioners: Income

Alex Cunningham: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Government has made of the Financial Conduct Authority’s interim report on the Retirement Outcomes Review.

Stephen Barclay: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published their interim Retirement Outcomes Review report in July 2017 and plan to publish their final report in 2018. The government welcomes the FCA’s work in this area ensuring that the market supports consumer choice and consumers have the right information when making decisions on how to manage their retirement income. The government awaits the publication of the final report of the review, and will consider any recommendations carefully. The government notes the FCA’s interim report and believes it is right that individuals are trusted with their own hard-earned savings and that they should have choice about how to access their pension income rather than being forced to purchase an annuity. As the FCA’s interim findings show, the majority of pots that are fully withdrawn are smaller (90% worth less than £30,000) and the majority of individuals (94%) have other sources of income in retirement. This does not indicate that people are squandering their savings as a result of the pension freedoms. The pension freedoms have been very popular: as of October 2017 individuals have accessed over £14.2 billion through over 2.7 million payments.

Research: Finance

Chris Green: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress has been made on investing three per cent of gross domestic product in research and development.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government is committed to increase total public and private R&D investment to 2.4%GDP by 2027 with an ultimate goal of 3%GDP in the long-term. This ambition was underlined by the additional £2.3bn of R&D funding announced at Budget, on top of a record £4.7bn increase in R&D announced at the Autumn Statement 2016, and takes total R&D spend in 2021-22 to £12.5bn – the largest increase in 40 years.

Boats: EU Countries

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that recreational boaters whose craft have Union Goods status retain that status after the UK leaves the EU.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that recreational craft travelling from the UK to the EU with non-Union Goods status can benefit from Temporary Admission Relief on VAT and duty after the UK leaves the EU.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that recreational boaters whose vessels have Union Goods status are able quickly and easily to prove that status when travelling between the UK and the EU after the UK has left the EU.

Mel Stride: The future customs rules for goods moving between the UK and the EU, including for arrangements relating to recreational boats, will depend on the outcome of negotiations with the EU. The Government is engaging with stakeholders affected by EU Exit in every sector and region of the UK economy to assess the effect of EU Exit on them.

Personal Pensions: Advisory Services

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on the change in number of financial advisors who offer advice on personal pensions arising from recent changes on accessibility to personal pensions.

Stephen Barclay: The Treasury does not hold any information on the change in number of financial advisors who offer advice on personal pensions arising from recent changes on accessibility to personal pensions. The regulation of financial advisors is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority.

Sanitary Protection: VAT

Alison Thewliss: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress is being made on abolishing VAT on sanitary products.

Mel Stride: The UK continues to press for a VAT zero rate for women’s sanitary products at EU level so that we can introduce at the earliest opportunity, consistent with the United Kingdom’s EU obligations.

Credit

Rachel Reeves: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what evidence he has received on the potential of the voluntary agreement by lenders to effectively ensure that customers’ credit limits are not increased without their permission.

Rachel Reeves: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received on the voluntary agreement by lenders not to increase customers’ credit limits without their permission; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Barclay: Treasury ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. The regulation of consumer credit is a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA has carried out an extensive credit card market study that identified concerns about persistent credit card debt. The FCA’s proposed measures to tackle persistent debt include an industry agreement to restrict unsolicited credit limit increases.

Child Tax Credit: Carers

Melanie Onn: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many kinship carers have been denied child tax credit for a baby to whom they or their partner have given birth since 6 April 2017.

Elizabeth Truss: I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given on 19 October in response to question 107976.

Child Tax Credit: Carers

Melanie Onn: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of kinship carers who will be unable to claim child tax credit for their own baby as a result of the restriction of child tax credit to two children within the household in the financial years (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19 and (c) 2019-20.

Melanie Onn: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the savings that will accrue to the public purse in financial years (a) 2017-18,  (b) 2018-19 and (c) 2019-20 as a result of kinship carers with two children in a household not being able to claim child tax credit for their own baby.

Elizabeth Truss: I refer the Honourable Member to the answer given on 17 October in response to question 107327.

Members: Correspondence

Maria Eagle: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he will answer the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood's letter to him of 18 October 2017 about tolls on the Mersey Gateway Bridge.

Elizabeth Truss: I replied to the hon. Member on 15 November 2017. A copy of my reply has been resent.

Credit: Regulation

Paul Blomfield: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to work with the Financial Conduct Authority to regulate the credit market and stop uninvited credit limit increases by lenders.

Stephen Barclay: Treasury ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. This includes regular meetings with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA has carried out an extensive credit card market study that identified concerns about persistent credit card debt. The FCA’s proposed measures to tackle persistent debt include an industry agreement to restrict unsolicited credit limit increases.

Public Sector: Databases

Chi Onwurah: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Government is taking to promote innovation in the collection and analysis of micro-level economic data by (a) government departments, (b) devolved administrations, (c) combined authorities and (d) Local Enterprise Partnerships.

Stephen Barclay: The government recognises that we need the best possible data to facilitate policy making. The government commissioned Professor Sir Charles Bean to carry out an Independent Review of UK Economic Statistics, which reported in March 2016. Since then, the government has invested over £10m to enable the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to develop world-leading analytical and digital capabilities in economic measurement in line with the review’s recommendations. This funding has delivered a new Data Science Campus – allowing the ONS to utilise ‘big data’ to produce more innovative, timely and accurate statistics – and a partnership with leading academics through the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence to push the frontiers of economic measurement and ensure UK’s economic statistics remain world leading. The ONS plans to use new powers provided for within the Digital Economy Act 2017 to harness micro-data held by the public sector and commercial data holders for statistics and research purposes. The ONS is already taking its first steps in using administrative data, to improve its official statistics. Beginning this month, the ONS will be using VAT within its quarterly national accounts. The ONS have also recently published the results of analysis linking firm-level foreign domestic investment data on immediate foreign ownership to firm-level responses to the Annual Business Survey to examine variations in productivity outcomes, and are actively working with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to access microdata including Pay As You Earn (PAYE) data, with a view to incorporating these into measures of household income and UK employment. In this work the ONS is committed to protecting privacy and confidentiality. In addition to the various legislative safeguards in place, the ONS has established the National Statistician's Data Ethics Advisory Committee, to ensure that the access, use and sharing of public data is ethical and for the public good. Detailed information on how the ONS is keeping data safe is set out on its website. On Combined Authorities: Government is working with the new Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) to develop monitoring and evaluation frameworks for each MCA. As part of that we are working with the What Works Centre for Local Economic Growth to explore how the impact of key devolved policies could be analysed at the MCA level. On Local Enterprise Partnerships: Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have played a leading role in economic planning since their creation. Since 2013, each LEP has developed a Strategic Economic Plan for their localities using economic data to support their approach to driving growth in their local area.

Treasury: Military Aircraft

Ruth Smeeth: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department owes to the Ministry of Defence on 6 December 2017 in respect of his use of RAF aircraft and helicopters.

Andrew Jones: The cost of overseas official journeys taken by the Chancellor using RAF aircraft and helicopters is published on a quarterly basis. It can be found within the Treasury’s transparency data on ministerial meetings, hospitality, gifts and overseas travel on www.gov.uk. The Treasury makes payments to suppliers, including other government departments, in line with published policies. The Treasury’s performance against these policies is also published on www.gov.uk.

First Time Buyers: Stamp Duty Land Tax

Melanie Onn: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of first-time buyers who will benefit from the changes to stamp duty announced in Autumn Budget 2017 in each of the next five years.

Melanie Onn: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many first time buyers in (a) Great Grimsby constituency and (b) the UK he expects to benefit from the changes to stamp duty announced in Autumn Budget 2017 in each of the next five years.

Mel Stride: The estimated numbers of purchases benefitting from the Stamp Duty Land Tax relief for first-time buyers in the UK in each of the next five years are as follows:  England and Northern Ireland2018/19209,0002019/20213,0002020/21216,0002021/22219,0002022/23223,000  SDLT is devolved in Scotland and will be devolved to Wales from April 2018. The figures in the table therefore relate to England and Northern Ireland. HMRC is unable to provide estimates for first time buyers at a constituency level.

Children: Day Care

Tracy Brabin: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2017 to Question 116593, what proportion of self-employed people or who have a partner who is self-employed and have successfully applied for tax-free childcare have used that account to date.

Elizabeth Truss: Extensive analysis would be required to determine the proportion of self-employed parents who have made a payment from their Tax-Free Childcare account. The information requested is not readily available and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.Tax-Free Childcare offers many self-employed parents Government help with childcare costs for the first time, as they are not eligible for employer supported childcare vouchers.

Department for Exiting the European Union

Shipping

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of leaving the EU on the operation of the marine and recreational boating sectors.

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the viability of (a) coastal communities and (b) local economies with a significant marine sector of the UK leaving the EU.

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the market for second-hand recreational boats of the UK leaving the EU.

Mr Robin Walker: As part of our work preparing to make a success of our departure from the European Union we are carrying out a full suite of analysis as you would expect a responsible Government to do. This analysis covers 58 sectors as well as cross-cutting regulatory, economic and social issues to help inform our negotiation positions. We are examining all areas of the UK economy from a number of perspectives and seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders. This sectoral analysis sits alongside regional and small business engagement across the UK. The Government’s Maritime and Ports sectoral report sets out a description of the sector, the current EU regulatory regime, existing frameworks for how trade is facilitated between countries in this sector and sector views. This report has been made available for members of both Houses to read in a secure reading room. We are committed to the best possible deal for the United Kingdom - a deal that works for the entirety of the UK economy. We have been engaging with businesses and industry bodies from all sectors of the economy and parts of the UK in order to inform our negotiations with the EU.

Department for International Trade

Trade Remedies Authority: Public Appointments

Gareth Snell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether appointments made to the Trade Remedies Authority will include representatives from UK manufacturing and trades unions.

Greg Hands: We are committed to creating an organisation with the expertise required to reach informed and objective conclusions on trade remedies cases. We will ensure that the TRA is staffed by individuals with the right skills to effectively operate the new system. Our detailed review of the structure and resources of the Australian, American, Canadian, EU and United States systems has informed our decision to recruit investigators with legal, economics or accountancy backgrounds. As with other such appointments, appointments to the TRA will be made in accordance with good governance principles and, where relevant, rules on public appointments.The Department for International Trade has engaged with a range of stakeholders including all sorts of businesses, and trade unions, throughout the policy and legislative development process for the trade remedies framework and will continue to do so as it sets up the Trade Remedies Authority.

Trade Remedies Authority

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2017 to Question 115544, if he will publish the names of the five organisations that made representations on the inclusion of social and environmental criteria, in the remit of the Trade Remedies Authority.

Mark Garnier: Representations were received, in writing and during meetings, from (two) industry representative bodies and (three) trade union organisations.We will be publishing a response to the Department’s White Paper consultation in due course.

Overseas Trade: Sudan

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what account his Department took of outstanding indictments in the International Criminal Court before agreeing to the joint trade conference with Sudan set for 12 December 2017.

Mark Garnier: Trade can help drive economic growth, create jobs and raise standards and we are supporting the Government of Sudan to make reforms to create a more inclusive and prosperous Sudan. There has been no change in the UK’s policy on the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment of President Bashir. We continue to make clear that we expect compliance with arrest warrants for all those indicted, and we remind countries of their legal obligations to cooperate with the ICC.The UK-Sudan Trade and Investment Forum is a private business venture. We are not providing any financial or administrative support, however, HMG officials will attend.

Iron and Steel: China

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2017 to Question 116341, whether his Department plans to replicate the 19 trade remedies currently in force against Chinese steel to which the UK adheres through its EU membership after the UK leaves the EU.

Greg Hands: DIT is preparing a UK trade remedies framework in readiness for the UK leaving the EU.In support of this, the Department has issued a call for evidence to identify which UK businesses produce goods currently subject to anti-dumping or anti-subsidy measures, or to an on-going investigation related to these.It asks those businesses to state whether they support, are neutral to, or oppose the maintaining of those measures when the UK begins to operate its independent trade remedy framework.

Energy Intensive Industries: Trade Agreements

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2017 to Question 116918 on energy intensive industries: trade agreements, if he will list the 19 organisations from which he received representations on the implementation of trade remedy measures; and what plans he has to publish the details of those representations.

Mark Garnier: Representations were received, in writing and during meetings, from (fifteen) industry representative bodies and (four) businesses.The Government will shortly be publishing a response to the Trade White Paper, including a summary of responses received.

Trade Promotion

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2017 to Question 116660 on trade promotion, what estimate he has made of the total employment cost per annum of the nine Her Britannic Majesty's Trade Commissioners.

Mark Garnier: The roles will be advertised with a salary of up to £120,000, dependent on the skills and experience of the candidate, which is within the Senior Civil Servants pay band 2 range of £88,000 to £162,500. The successful candidates will also be entitled to overseas allowances, to compensate for the extra costs incurred from moving overseas and maintaining a standard of living comparable to the UK. The rates are dependent on the location and family circumstance.

BiFab

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask Secretary of State for International Trade, what value of bonds the Government holds in Burntisland Fabrications.

Mark Garnier: UK Export Finance (UKEF) supports UK exports by providing insurance, guarantees and loans. It does not hold bonds in Burntisland Fabrications.In 2016-17 UKEF issued a £17million guarantee to the Royal Bank of Scotland for a performance bond* to a Dutch company, Seaway Heavy Lifting in support of Burntisland Fabrications’ supply of fabrication work for the Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm. This guarantee is extant. UKEF publishes details of its support on an annual basis in its Annual Report and Accounts which is presented to Parliament and on its website.https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-export-finance-annual-reports-and-accounts* A performance bond safeguards one party of a contract against the failure of the other party to meet obligations specified in the contract.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Data Protection

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure safeguarding measures are in place to ensure that hackers are unable to steal the personal details of customers.

Matt Hancock: We are committed including through the National Cyber Security Strategy to making the UK the safest place to live and work online and ensuring all organisations are secure and resilient to cyber threats. A wide range of Government guidance and support is available to help organisations protect themselves online and fulfil their data protection responsibilities. This includes the National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Security Small Business Guide, the Cyber Essentials scheme and guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office. Under the existing Data Protection Act organisations must ensure appropriate cyber security measures are in place to protect personal data. The forthcoming Data Protection Bill will enhance the existing regime by requiring organisations to report data breaches quickly and through the introduction of higher fines for non-compliance.

UK City of Culture: Stoke on Trent

Jack Brereton: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the strength of Stoke-on-Trent's bid to be UK City of Culture 2021.

John Glen: Stoke-on-Trent's bid to be UK City of Culture 2021 was assessed by an independent judging panel, chaired by Phil Redmond, along with the ten other bids to host the title. The bid was assessed as strong and was shortlisted on that basis. The panel reconvened on 6-7 December 2017 for the final stage of the selection process and recommended that Coventry should be awarded the title of UK City of Culture 2021. The unsuccessful bid teams will receive detailed feedback on their bids to help inform and shape their future cultural plans.

Consumers: Data Protection

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that consumers who are victims of data breaches receive adequate service and compensation from the companies responsible.

Matt Hancock: We take both the protection of personal data and the right to privacy extremely seriously. The Data Protection Bill is going to make our data protection laws fit for the digital age in which an ever increasing amount of data is being processed. The measures outline in the Bill are designed to support businesses in their use of data. It will empower people to take control of their data and support UK businesses and organisations through the change. The measures outline in the Bill are designed to support businesses in their use of data. It is always the company's responsibility to identify when UK citizens, including its employees, have been affected as part of a data breach and to take steps to reduce any harm.

Sports: Regulation

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that sporting bodies are sufficiently well-regulated to prevent abuse within those organisations.

Tracey Crouch: As part of their funding conditions with Sport England and UK Sport, all National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) are required to have appropriate safeguarding policies and procedures in place as well as meeting and - where appropriate - maintaining the Standards for Safeguarding and Protecting Children in Sport (the 'Standards') which are issued by the NSPCC's Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU). This requirement also forms part of the standards set out in the Code for Sports Governance which applies to all organisations in receipt of public and/or National Lottery funding from Sport England and UK Sport.   The CPSU is Sport England's expert safeguarding partner and conducts an annual 'health check' of all NGBs, reporting back to Sport England to ensure this funding condition is being met. The Standards provide a framework for all those involved in sport to help them create a safe sporting environment for children and young people and to protect them from harm. They also seek to provide a benchmark to help those involved in sport make informed decisions, and to promote good practice and challenge practice that is harmful to children. The Code for Sports Governance makes it clear that it is vital that sports bodies receiving money from Sport England or UK Sport have appropriate policies and processes in place to ensure good governance and transparency in their organisations. This includes ensuring that bodies meet their obligations to protect and safeguard the welfare of those participating in their sports, as well as volunteers and employees.

Heritage Lottery Fund

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the budget of the Heritage Lottery Fund has been in each year since 2012.

John Glen: The Heritage Lottery Fund budget for each year since 2012 has been as follows:£375m - 2012/13£402m - 2013/14£375m - 2014/15£430m - 2015/16£434m - 2016/17

Business: Digital Technology

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many businesses tech city and tech north have supported; and how many of those businesses were female owned.

Matt Hancock: We do not hold this data. Tech City list the companies they support on their website http://www.techcityuk.com/programmes/

Charities: Young People

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when her Department plans to respond to the consultation on the Full-time social action review.

Tracey Crouch: The independent review of Full Time Social Action is due to make recommendations to Government by the end of December 2017. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will respond to these recommendations in the New Year.

Heritage Lottery Fund

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much was disbursed by the Heritage Lottery Fund in each year since 2012

John Glen: Heritage Lottery Fund have made the following disbursements in each year since 2012. 2012/2013 - £249 million2013/2014 - £288 million2014/2015 - £319 million2015/2016 - £335 million2016/2017 - £406 million

Department of Health

Children: Disability

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to (a) health care and (b) social care for the families of disabled children.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Clinical commissioning groups must ensure that they secure health services to meet the needs of disabled children to a reasonable extent. The statutory framework introduced in the Children and Families Act 2014 requires clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to work together to support the needs of children with a special educational need and disability. Commissioners must publish a transparent ‘local offer’ of services available which has been developed for, and with, parents and young people. Since May 2016, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission have been inspecting local areas on their effectiveness in fulfilling their new duties for children and young people with special educational needs. NHS England is leading work to improve outcomes from commissioning of wheelchairs, including the National Wheelchair Data Collection, and the publication in July 2017 of a new service specification for wheelchair services. Children’s social care is the responsibility of the Department for Education. All disabled children are regarded as children ‘in need’ under the Children Act 1989 and may receive social care from the local authority. The Children and Families Act 2014 placed a duty on local authorities to assess whether a parent carer in their area has needs for support. A parent carer is defined as a person aged 18 or over who provides or intends to provide care for a disabled child for whom they have parental responsibility. An assessment must have regard to the parent carer’s well-being, must consider whether it is appropriate for the parent carer to continue to provide care for the disabled child in light of the parent carer’s needs for support, other needs and wishes, and must consider whether the parent carer has needs for support. Local authorities also provide short break services for disabled children, sometimes known as respite care, which also give their families and carers time to do normal things and take rest from care responsibilities. In April 2011, the Government introduced a statutory duty for all local authorities to provide a range of short breaks services, to consider carers’ needs in the design of these services and to publicise them clearly. While responsibility for funding short breaks rests with local authorities, the Department for Education has offered support and challenge and continues to consider how it can best support local authorities who are working to deliver sustainable short breaks provision.

Leukaemia: Drugs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the ATIR treatment for people with leukaemia will be available on the NHS.

Steve Brine: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has been asked to develop technology appraisal guidance on the use of ATIR101 to support haematopoietic stem cell transplantation using partially mismatched (haploidentical) family members as donors, for the treatment of some blood cancers. NICE’s appraisal is being scheduled in line with a clinical trial that is expected to complete in 2020.

Prostate Cancer: Screening

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the SelectMDx urine test for prostate cancer  will be made available on the NHS.

Steve Brine: The future availability of any new or novel tests on the National Health Service, such as the SelectMDx test for prostate cancer, would be subject to large scale clinical trials demonstrating the safety and efficacy of the diagnostic approach and subsequent assessments of its cost effectiveness for routine use.

Cold Sores: Medical Treatments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department issues on the treatment of cold sores.

Steve Brine: Guidance on the treatment of cold sores is available on the NHS Choices website.

Scarlet Fever

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department made of trends in the instances of scarlet fever in the UK.

Steve Brine: Public Health England recently undertook a comprehensive assessment of longitudinal trends in scarlet fever in England and Wales in light of the elevation in scarlet fever disease incidence, noted from 2014 onwards. This identified that the population rate in 2016 (33 cases per 100,000 population) was the highest seen since 1967. The study also identified a rise in hospitalisations during this period of elevated incidence, although the majority were discharged the same day. Weekly notifications during the 2017 seasonal peak of activity showed a slight drop compared to the previous year. The assessment is available to view here:www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(17)30693-X/fulltext?elsca1=tlpr

Hearing Aids

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been supplied with hearing aids by (a) age group and (b) gender, in each of the last five years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Information is not collected centrally on the age or gender of people prescribed hearing aids. In 2016, a total of 1,373,444 hearing aids were prescribed by the National Health Service. The table below shows data on hearing aids provided in the last four years.  2014201520162017Increase 2014-17Total NHS1,265,7611,310,7611,373,4441,362,6517.7%Total Private256,673275,449297,449307,17119.7% Note: 1Figures up to September 2017.

Influenza: Vaccination

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to encourage people to take the winter flu jab.

Steve Brine: Public Health England, in partnership with NHS England, is currently running the Stay Well This Winter campaign which encourages people who are most at-risk of preventable emergency admission to hospital to take actions to help them stay well. These actions include getting a flu vaccination and visiting a pharmacy at the first sign of a winter illness. The campaign launched on 9 October 2017 and promotes uptake of the flu vaccination to people with long term health conditions, people aged 65 years and over, pregnant women, carers and eligible children. Stay Well This Winter is a national multi-channel campaign that includes television, radio, social media, public relations and digital activity. This is supported by an extensive partnership programme to amplify reach through local authorities, the National Health Service, pharmacies, commercial manufacturers of over the counter medicines, the energy sector, charities, employers and many other organisations.

Breast Cancer: Biosimilar Medicines

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions NHS England has had with (a) breast cancer charities and (b) patient groups on the introduction of the biosimilars of Herceptin, Trastuzumab.

Steve Brine: NHS England is working closely with the Cancer Vanguard and the Chemotherapy Clinical Reference Group to ensure all stakeholders, including charities and patient groups, are involved with the implementation of biosimilar trastuzumab.

Breastfeeding

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which public sector organisations are responsible for the (a) commissioning and (b) funding of specialist breast feeding support services.

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of trends in the provision of specialist breast feeding support services in (a) England and (b) Oxfordshire in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement

Jackie Doyle-Price: The commissioning of specialist breastfeeding support services is split across clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), who commission maternity services, and local authorities, who commission public health services for 0 – 5 year olds. CCGs are responsible for commissioning breastfeeding support from midwifery services and, in Oxfordshire, the County Council is responsible to commissioning breastfeeding support from the health visiting service. Guidance to commissioners does not distinguish between general and specialist breastfeeding support. Such services (for example, milk banks) are funded through a mix of National Health Service funding, the charitable sector and public donations. NHS Oxfordshire CCG’s maternity services are working towards achieving stage 2 accreditation. Oxfordshire’s health visitors have recently achieved full (stage 3) accreditation. Information on service provision for breastfeeding and trends in the provision of said services is not held centrally. The National Infant Feeding Network may monitor this under UNICEF’s Baby Friendly Initiative which is available at: https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/baby-friendly-resources/advocacy/infant-feeding-networks/ Public Health England has published a resource for local authorities to support their commissioning of such support services which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/infant-feeding-commissioning-services

Mental health services

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the Care Quality Commission's online map of designated places of safety includes details of every designated place of safety in England.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what powers are available to the Care Quality Commission to ensure that Care Commissioning Groups (a) identify and (b) inform police forces and ambulance services of health-based places of safety in their area.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Care Quality Commission's (CQC’s) online map shows all the health-based places of safety known to it at August 2017. It shows places of safety that are located in mental health units on mental health hospital or acute hospital sites, as well as accident and emergency departments in acute hospitals that are designated as places of safety. The CQC has functions under the Mental Health Act s120 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. It has the power under s120 of the Mental Health Act to keep under review and, where appropriate, investigate the exercise of the powers and the discharge of the duties conferred or imposed by the Mental Health Act so relating to the detention of patients, their reception into guardianship or those liable to be detained under the Act.When exercising this reviewing function the CQC will take into account whether providers of Mental Health services have had regard to the Mental Health Act Code of Practice. This is statutory guidance for providers and must be taken into account and reasons for not doing so recorded. It is not statutory guidance for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) but is considered beneficial to them in carrying out their duties. The Code of Practice at chapter 16 states that local authorities, NHS Commissioners, hospitals, police forces and ambulance services should have local partnership arrangements in place to deal with people experiencing mental health crisis.The CQC may consider the local policy arrangements and the effectiveness of the monitoring of these arrangements when conducting a review under s120 of the Mental Health Act. It does not have any specific power to ensure that CCGs identify and inform police forces and ambulance services of health-based places of safety in their area. It is expected that this would be transparent in the joint local policy arrangements. The CQC has no powers to compel CCGs to take any action. There is a power under s48 of the Act to review and/or investigate commissioning but this requires the approval of the Secretary of State for Health

Mental health services

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what real-time information NHS England provides to the police and ambulance services on the availability of health-based places of safety.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS England does not provide real-time information to the police and ambulance services on the availability of health-based places of safety. It is for providers of health-based places of safety – most often National Health Service mental health trusts – to determine the information that is shared with police and ambulance services regarding the real-time availability of health-based places of safety. NHS England has funded three areas to pilot digital tools to inform the development of capacity and demand management functionality. These tools show the capacity of local services to health and social care professionals, joint ‘triage’ teams and the police, providing them with real-time access to information on the nearest available section 136 suites. NHS England is currently in the process of determining how best to share the learning from these pilot areas.

Mental Illness: Police Custody

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to establish target times for the assessment of places of safety under the Mental Health Act 1983 (Places of Safety) Regulations 2017.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department has no plans to do so.

Obesity: Children

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of excess sugar consumption on levels of childhood obesity.

Steve Brine: The 2015 Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) Carbohydrate and Health report provided an assessment of the impact of excess sugar consumption and concluded that a diet high in sugar increases the risk of weight gain. SACN also recommended that intakes of sugar should not exceed five percent of total energy, a halving of the previous recommendation. The report is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sacn-carbohydrates-and-health-reportThe 2016 National Diet and Nutrition Survey shows that children’s intakes of sugar are at around three times recommended levels. The survey is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-diet-and-nutrition-survey

Drug: Misuse

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs report Commissioning impact on drug treatment which published in September 2017, what assessment he has made of the effect of reductions in funding for local authorities on the availability of drug misuse treatment in England.

Steve Brine: Officials are currently reviewing the report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs entitled Commissioning impact of on drug treatment published on 6 September. The Government will respond shortly.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department's proposals in its Green Paper on children and young people's mental health, published on 4 December 2017, if he will publish a breakdown of spending areas in each year to 2022-23 for the additional expenditure committed.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The proposals as set out in the Green Paper would cost £215 million over the next three years towards the creation of Mental Health Support Teams (including to train and employ the new workforce), piloting a four week waiting time standard and rolling out mental health first aid training in primary schools. Funding will be made available to take forward the proposals following the consultation. As set out in the Impact Assessment which was published alongside the Green Paper, £15-20 million will also be made available, by the Department for Education, each year from 2019 for significant training programmes for schools and colleges until all schools and colleges have had the opportunity to train a Designated Senior Lead for mental health. However, it is worth noting that specifics around the proposals, which may impact on the cost estimates provided above and set out in the impact assessment, will be determined post consultation. The outcome of the trailblazer phase will also inform future roll-out and costs. Funding decisions for the Green Paper proposals after the current spending review ends in 2020/21 will be subject to future spending reviews.

Prostate Cancer

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the rates of prostate cancer among men over 50 who are (a) white and (b) BAME during the last ten years.

Steve Brine: Data on the rates of prostate cancer among men over 50 are not held in the format requested.

Infant Foods: Marketing

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the potential merits of fully implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes after the UK leaves the EU.

Steve Brine: The Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula Regulations 2007 implements European Commission Directive 2006/141/EC on infant formulae and follow-on formulae, which gives effect to the principles and aims of the 1981 World Health Organization Code on the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes dealing with marketing, information and responsibilities of health authorities. There are no plans to review this legislation after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.

Shingles: Vaccination

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase the rates of uptake of the shingles vaccine

Steve Brine: In conjunction with NHS England and the Department, the eligibility criteria for this vaccine have been changed to make it easier for health care professionals (HCPS) to identify eligible patients. This change means that patients become eligible for the vaccine from their 70th and 78th birthdays (if not previously vaccinated) and can be offered the vaccine opportunistically all year round. In support of this change, Public Health England has updated communication materials to both patients and HCPs to better illustrate eligible cohorts. This includes guidance for those in age groups with previous eligibility who have missed the opportunity to receive the vaccine, up to their 80th birthday. NHS England has a focus on reducing variation in all Section 7a immunisation programmes and work with local teams to seek assurance that low uptake and variation are addressed, and to identify good practice that can be shared.

Care Homes: Standards

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what processes are in place to ensure that care provider CQC ratings are taken into account in advice issued by local authority social services to people seeking a care home.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Information and advice is fundamental to enabling people, carers and families to take control of, and make well-informed choices about, their care and support and how they fund it. The Care Act 2014 placed duties on local authorities to establish and maintain information and advice services relating to care and support for all people in its area. When appropriate, local authorities direct people to national sources of information, including the quality ratings of providers from the Care Quality Commission.

Novartis

Melanie Onn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the relocation of the European Medicines Agency on the future of the Novartis pharmaceutical (a) site and (b) production at that site.

Steve Brine: The Government is committed to ensuring a positive outcome for the whole life science sector that enhances competitiveness and builds on the success that we are rightly proud of, as we exit the European Union. Officials across government have been carrying out a programme of sectoral and regulatory analysis to identify the key factors for the life sciences sector that will affect our negotiations with the EU. Ultimately it is for the European Medicines Agency to comment on how it intends to operate from its new location, and what individual companies like Novartis might have to do differently.

Community Health Partnerships and NHS Property Services

Mr Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the Government's policy is on the future of (a) NHS Property Services Ltd and (b) Community Health Partnerships; what the purpose and remit is of each of those organisations; and for what reasons their functions have not been amalgamated.

Mr Philip Dunne: NHS Property Services Ltd (NHSPS) was established and became operational on 1 April 2013 to hold many of the properties that had been owned by the primary care trusts that were abolished at that time under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. The ongoing high level objectives for NHS Property Services Ltd can be broadly summarised as: - The provision of a high quality property service and the achievement of significant efficiency savings; and - Timely and value for money disposals of assets declared surplus by the National Health Service to release capital for investment for the benefit of frontline NHS services. Community Health Partnerships (CHP) was established much earlier to improve access to community based health and social care services by improving the NHS estate through public private partnerships established by the NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) programme. CHP is the public sector shareholder in each of the 49 LIFT Companies across England, which currently provide 339 serviced buildings for the provision of primary and community healthcare. In 2013, CHP became head tenant for the NHS LIFT estate, collecting the rents and ensuring that the buildings are adequately managed to support the provision of the services delivered in them. Sir Robert Naylor’s review of the NHS estate published in March 2017 recommended the establishment of a ‘powerful new NHS Property Board’. The Government is giving careful consideration to the recommendations of the Naylor Review and will respond in due course.

Mental Health Services: Finance

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of the additional £2.8 billion funding for the NHS announced in Autumn Budget 2017 will be allocated to mental health services.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Government is already committed to backing the National Health Service with an additional £8 billion, in real terms, by 2020/21. As part of the Budget announcement on 22 November, we have now committed to backing the NHS in England further so that by 2019/20 it will have received an additional £2.8 billion of revenue funding for frontline services than previously planned over the period. This includes £335 million this winter to help trusts to increase capacity. We have also committed £3.5 billion of new capital investment by 2022/23 to transform its estate and drive further efficiency savings. The Government is committed to parity of esteem between mental health and physical health and delivering the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health. ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision; a Green Paper’ sets out ambitious plans to further improve support and early intervention for children and young people. The proposals as set out in the Green Paper would cost £215 million over the next three years towards the creation of Mental Health Support Teams, piloting a four week waiting time standard and rolling out mental health first aid training in primary schools. Funding will be made available to take forward the proposals following the consultation.

Clinical Commissioning Groups: Procurement

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on how many occasions an NHS clinical commissioning group has been pursued by a care or health provider over deficiencies in the contract tendering procedure.

Steve Brine: NHS England has advised that they do not collect this information centrally.

Mental Health Services: Young People

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to collect data relating to young people making the transition to adult mental health services from child and adolescent mental health to show the (a) number of those young people, (b) age of those young people, (c) time taken to transfer those young people between those services and (d) number of those young people discharged without their being transferred to adult mental health services.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Mental Health Services dataset was introduced in January 2016 and collects data on people in contact with National Health Service funded secondary mental health services. The dataset includes people of any age. This means that it is possible to collect data on the transition of people from child and adolescent mental health services to adult mental health services. This includes data relating to the number of those young people; the age of those young people; the time taken to transfer those young people between children and young people’s mental health services; and, the number of those young people discharged without their being transferred to adult mental health services.

Motor Neurone Disease: Health Services

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what changes there have been in the (a) assessment and (b) management of motor neurone disease in the last 12 months.

Steve Brine: On 24 February 2016, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a new best practice guideline on the assessment and management of motor neurone disease (MND) and in July 2016 published a corresponding Quality Standard (QS), which sets out five key markers of high quality MND care. NICE routinely reviews its guidance to ensure that it reflects the latest available evidence, and it reviewed its QS earlier this year. Both the guideline and QS, along with information about the next planned review dates for both, can be found at the following links:www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng42/resources/motor-neurone-disease-assessment-and-management-1837449470149 www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs126

Electronic Cigarettes

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of number of adults annually giving up smoking as a result of vaping; and whether there has been an increase in the number of adults giving up smoking since vaping became more common practice.

Steve Brine: The Office for National Statistics has published data on e-cigarette use in England annually since 2014. Data is published at the following link:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandlifeexpectancies/datasets/ecigaretteuseinenglandThe statistics show that in 2014 there was a total of 1.6 million e-cigarette users with 0.6 million of those ex-cigarette smokers. In 2016 e-cigarette use had increased to 2.4 million users, with 1.3 million of those ex-cigarette smokers. Smoking prevalence in England is currently at 15.5%, the lowest it has ever been.

Mental Health Services: Closures

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish the number of (a) hospitals, (b) wards and (c) beds in the mental health sector that have closed in the last 12 months.

Jackie Doyle-Price: This information is not collected centrally.

Hospitals: Standards

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish the list of hospitals that are rated by the Care Quality Commission as requires improvement overall.

Mr Philip Dunne: As the independent regulator of health and social care providers in England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulates and assesses all providers of regulated activities by looking at five domains – whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led. These five questions are asked of all the services the CQC inspects. After each inspection, the CQC produces a report. In most cases their reports include ratings, which show their overall judgement of the quality of care. All of the CQC’s provider ratings are published on the CQC’s website; these can be filtered via the rating and the type of provider. Hospitals currently rated as requires improvement are published at the following link:https://www.cqc.org.uk/search/services/all?f%5B0%5D=im_field_inspection_rating%3A3927&f%5B1%5D=latest_inspections%3Amonth&f%5B2%5D=im_field_popular_services%3A3672

Mental Health Services: Children

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many inpatient mental health beds there are that are suitable for children; and where those beds are situated.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHS England’s Capacity and Demand Review identified 1,449 children and young people’s mental health inpatient beds (Tier 4) beds at 1 April 2017. The table shows the regions in which these beds are situated. RegionPre-review positionLondon231South323North404Midlands and East491National total1,449 Source: NHS England By 2020/21, inappropriate placements to inpatient beds for children and young people will be eliminated: including both placements to inappropriate settings and to inappropriate locations far from the family home (out of area treatments).

Image Guided Surgery

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients underwent an interventional radiology (image-guided surgery) procedure in each region in each of the last three years.

Mr Philip Dunne: The table below is a count of finished admission episodes with a main or secondary procedure of interventional radiology by Government office region of treatment, for the years 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17. Activity of English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector are included.Government office region of treatment2014-152015-162016-17North East44,22647,24150,639North West137,061143,146146,180Yorkshire and The Humber88,37892,39496,620East Midlands58,46463,44866,906West Midlands93,46096,95499,433East of England94,15898,084102,355London155,470163,005173,867South East128,021138,157147,546South West78,60085,71686,288Total877,838928,145969,834Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS Digital This data provides a count of the number of interventional radiology procedures, not the number of individual patients as the same person may have multiple procedures.

Image Guided Surgery

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the NHS’ capacity to deliver 24-hour interventional radiology (image-guided surgery) services in each region.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of regional variation in patient access to interventional radiology procedures (image-guided surgery).

Mr Philip Dunne: The seven day services self-assessment survey completed by trusts in March 2017 included information on the availability of clinical interventions, including interventional radiology (IR), on a seven day basis for patients admitted to hospital in an emergency. The data showed that 73.65% of hospital trusts who responded to this survey (109 out of 148 trusts) stated that IR was available for these patients seven days a week. Information on the twice yearly collection is available on the NHS England website at:https://www.england.nhs.uk/seven-day-hospital-services/progressNational Health Service regions have access to this report and will be able to consider any variation.

Image Guided Surgery

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential efficiency savings that could be generated through the use of minimally invasive procedures supported by interventional radiology (Image-guided surgery).

Mr Philip Dunne: Specialised Commissioning commissions services that utilise interventional radiology (IR), these include specialised cardiac, hepatology, vascular and cancer services. Where reviews of services are undertaken there is scope to consider comparison between IR and other surgical techniques. NHS England has received the report produced by the Medical Technology Group, ‘Keeping Britain Working: How medical technology can help reduce the cost of ill health to the UK economy’, outlining case studies with the potential to deliver efficiency savings and these have been shared with the relevant commissioning bodies.

Radiography

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many 24-hour interventional radiology centres there are in each region.

Mr Philip Dunne: The information on seven day services and availability of seven day interventional radiology measured in acute trusts in September 2017 is available on the NHS England webpages at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/seven-day-hospital-services/progress

Fracking: Health Hazards

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with Public Health England on updating its report of 2014 on the effect of shale gas on public health.

Steve Brine: Public Health England (PHE) reviews the evidence base on the health impacts of chemical and radiological emissions associated with shale gas extraction as it emerges, considering the available evidence as a whole. Currently, PHE has not identified any significant new evidence that would make the Department change its view that the potential risks to public health from exposure to emissions associated with shale gas extraction will be low if operations are properly run and regulated. This means that good on-site management and appropriate regulation of all aspects from exploratory drilling, gas capture, use and storage of fracking fluid, and post-operations decommissioning are essential to minimise the risk to the environment and public health. If significant new evidence emerged this would be discussed with the Department of Health and other Government departments.

Children: Obesity

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reason school nurses are not permitted to pass on the names of children who they assess to be obese to their GPs; and if she will make a statement.

Jackie Doyle-Price: School nurses do not hold a data base of children who are overweight or obese. If a school nurse, as the lead for the Healthy Child Programme (5-19), identifies a child who is overweight or obese they would work with the child and family, together with other professionals, to provide evidenced-based interventions regarding healthy weight and healthy eating. Parents would be encouraged to discuss the issue with their local general practitioner. School nurses would only share information as agreed within the local data sharing protocol.

Women and Equalities

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Philip Davies: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many times she has (a) met, (b) spoken to and (c) communicated with (i) directly with or (ii) through (A) officials, (B) Ministerial advisers and (B) other contacts, the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the last 12 months.

Philip Davies: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, on what dates she (a) met, (b) spoken to and (c) communicated with (i) directly with or (ii) through (A) officials, (B) Ministerial advisers and (B) other contacts, the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the last 12 months.

Philip Davies: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, on what dates between (a) 20 March and 21 April 2017 and (b) since 21 April 2017 (i) she, (ii) Officials of her Department, (iii) Ministerial advisers or (iv) others (A) met with, (B) spoke to or (C) communicated with the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission; and on which of those dates contact with the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission included communication about (I) the position of Disability Commissioner on the Equality and Human Rights Commission or (II) Lord Shinkwin.

Nick Gibb: The Government Equalities Office and its Ministers are in regular contact with the Equality and Human Rights Commission on a range of issues to do with the running of the Commission.

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Philip Davies: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will publish communications relating or referring to (a) the position of Disability Commissioner on the Equality and Human Rights Commission and (b) Lord Shinkwin between (i) herself, (ii) Officials of her Department, (iii) Ministerial advisers, (iv) the Government Equalities Office, (v) the Equality and Human Rights Commission and (vi) David Isaac between (A) 20 March and 21 April 2017 and (B) since 21 April 2017; and if she will place copies in the Library.

Nick Gibb: The Government Equality Office and its Ministers are in regular contact with the Equality and Human Rights Commission on a range of issues to do with the running of the Commission. These discussions and communications are not routinely published.

Equal Pay: Maternity Leave

Mr Peter Bone: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of maternity leave on the gender wage gap?

Anne Milton: The government is determined to closing the gender pay gap, which is currently at 18.4%. The calculation of the national gender pay gap, based on the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, does not include employees whose earnings are affected by absence from work, such as through maternity leave. Such employees should therefore not artificially inflate the gender pay gap. However, evidence suggests that more broadly, women’s reduced labour market participation is the biggest known driver of the gender pay gap, which is in part, a result of women taking on the bulk of caring responsibilities. The UK has one of the most generous Maternity Leave offers in the world, and we have also introduced Shared Parental Leave in order to provide parents with more choice and flexibility in how they divide care between them in the first year of their child’s life.

Business: Gender

Mr Peter Bone: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of proposing gender quotas for businesses.

Anne Milton: We believe that each country has a unique business environment. We are aware that quotas have driven progress in representation of women in a number of countries such as Norway, France and Italy. However, in the UK we have made excellent progress using a voluntary, business-led approach; for example we have seen the number of women on FTSE 350 boards more than double since 2010. We also have only nine all male boards remaining in the FTSE 350, and none in the FTSE 100. This is why we support the work of the Hampton-Alexander review, which sets voluntary targets for FTSE 350 companies to have 33% women on their boards and in their senior leadership positions by 2020. Currently, we believe this is the most effective approach and want to work collaboratively with businesses to ensure that progress on this agenda continues. We will continue to keep this approach under review.